


Our Lips Are Sealed

by Lstories



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A lot of gossips, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Best Friends, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Gossip, High School, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Idiots in Love, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Oral Sex, Piano, Playlist, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Rough Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Sex Is Fun, Sex Talk, Sexual Frustration, Shameless Smut, Shower Sex, Singing, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:35:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28855203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lstories/pseuds/Lstories
Summary: High school is never simple. It's always full of secrets, full of gossips and full of secrets which become gossips. That's even more true when you are a superhero, when you are in senior year and when you've just spent the summer to hook up with your best friend.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Alya Césaire, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 41
Kudos: 152





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I'm so happy to present you my new story! I've been working on it for a while now and I couldn't wait longer to show you the first chapter!  
> I rewrote it like five times (I'm serious, five times) since the last three months and I finally wrote a version that I really like.  
> Before anything else, let me clarify some points:  
> — Marinette is 17. Adrien, Alya and Nino are 18. They're in senior year.  
> — I didn't watch the second half of the season 3 of Miraculous, so a few inconsistencies are possible:  
> ⇨ Marinette will be the gardian and I'll try to watch the end of the season to know what I'm talking about.  
> ⇨ Marinette remembers Cat Blanc: she remembers the fact that knowing their identities is super dangerous BUT she doesn't remember that Adrien is Cat Noir, of course. I'm not sure it's been clarified in Miraculous.  
> ⇨ For now, I'm not envisaging to include Luka and Kagami at this story.  
> ⇨ I'm not sure if I'm gonna include the New-York episode (at what happened before the story takes place) so I'll let you know.  
> — Adrien is famous. Like really. Like I'm-the-son-of-the-most-well-known-stylist-of-the-world famous.  
> — I'll try to add a playlist with every chapter because I love listening to music and there are way too much musics which make me think of them.  
> — If I think about something else, I'll add it here, so if you have a question about the plot, the answer would probably be here!
> 
> And, last thing, I want to thank Khanofallorcs and to Labyrinthofchaos who help me a lot with this story! I'm French so it's not always easy to translate everything even if I love to do it! So, obviously, if you saw any translation error, let me know!
> 
> I wish you a very good reading!

> _ Heart to Heart — James Blunt _

Marinette sits up straight, causing her abs to contract. Her face dripping with sweat, short-winded, she has her eyes buried into Adrien's.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" he asks her.

Despite the effort, a smile straightens her lips. "Do you?" she answers, raising an eyebrow. She lays down again, takes a deep breath and sits up again. Her stomach hurts, her pulse beats against her temples, but she carries on. When she is on her back again, Adrien deepens the hold of his hands on her legs and looks deeply into her eyes. 

"Mari, I really _don't_ want to stop this. Whatever this is. But you have to be aware of all that that implies."

His smile changes into a more serious expression when she sits up again. "I'm already aware."

He crinkles his eyes and seems anything but convinced. Marinette sighs and pulls herself out of his hold, reversing their positions. Adrien finds himself on his back. "I'm a big girl, you know."

"I know," he sighs, straightening his chest up. "I didn't want to insinuate that you couldn't make your own decisions, it's just that... people are... They're mean, Mari. They can even be cruel, sometimes."

Marinette keeps looking at a drop of sweat which is shaping at his hairline. "And why would people know about us?" she asks with a distant voice.

Adrien sits up again, and Marinette watches the drop run along his forehead, trickle along his nose until it disappears. Noticing that he is still in the same position, she eventually looks up and feels a shiver cross along her spine at seeing his smile.

"What do you propose?"

His voice is hoarse, his face too close to hers. "To keep our heads down?"

"Keep our heads down," he repeats with an amused tone.

Marinette feels a smile tickle her lips. "We should define rules," she whispers, rubbing her nose against his. Her hands leave his knees and settle on his sides that she can feel shaking under his shirt, because of his position.

"We should, yeah," he answers, putting one of his hands against Marinette's waist.

"Hmm..." she whispers, brushing his lips with hers.

When Adrien firms up his grip on her skin, Marinette moves away, and he falls over the mat. "First rule," she says, standing up, "no physical distraction while we talk about... _this_." She raches for her bag and takes a pen and a notebook.

"Second rule," he says, still lying on the mat, "define _this_."

Marinette sits next to him, her right hand holding her pen. "Define this..." she repeats, writing it. She looks up from her notebook and begins to nervously chew on her pen under the amused eye of Adrien. "Is that really necessary?"

"How do you want to set rules for something that you can't even define?" he answers.

"And do you have a definition?" 

He turns his head, the eyes staring at the ceiling. "I do," he contents himself with this answer.

Marinette closes her teeth on her pen and sighs. "We have a relationship that’s a little bit... spicy?" Adrien chuckles, shaking his head. "A friendship a little bit advanced? A mutual attraction? A physical connection?"

"A _physical_ _connection_?" he repeats, laughing.

"Well, what's your definition?" she mumbles.

He stands up and sits on an exercise bench close to Marinette. "Sex friends."

She doesn't know why, but a shiver runs along her entire body at hearing those words. "What?"

"Friends with benefits? That tells you nothing? There are like a billion movies like that on Netflix."

"I knew that, you kept going on my account!" she exclaims by pointing him with her finger.

"Do you really want to talk about this now?"

Marinette sighs and taps on her notebook with her pen. About ten seconds later, she looks up to him again. "It's just that... Don't call us like that," she whispers.

"Why?" he asks, interested.

She sighs again and lets herself fall on the mat, her hands on her stomach. All of a sudden, she feels a pressure on her wrists and finds herself sitting in front of Adrien.

"Why?" he repeats with a tender voice.

Marinette feels her heart speed up inside her chest, her skin warm up, her cheeks color. "Because it always ends badly," she murmurs in a little voice, looking down. "It's always the same thing. They tell themselves it wouldn't affect their friendship, blah blah, that they'll always be friends, blah blah, and that..."

"That it will never never go any further."

She timidly looks up. "Blah blah," she adds.

Adrien smiles. "How do you want to define us, then?"

> _ I Will Be There — Odessa  _

Marinette takes the time to think about what he is asking her. Untangling what she knows from what she ignores, what she wants to say from what she wants to keep secret and what she desires from what she wants to avoid is no easy task. “I want us to be always honest with each other.”

Adrien takes the notebook and the pen from her hands, making sure to brush her skin and starts to write.

"That we won’t put boundaries by saying that it will never go any further or that it will never affect our friendship, because we don't know that. I want you to promise me to not keep it to yourself if you're not okay, if you feel like we are going too far, or if you want to stop, or even if you want to…”

"Go further?" he guesses, looking up. Marinette nods. "I promise. Do you?"

"I promise," she says, smiling at him. His gaze falls on the words he is writing and Marinette can't take her eyes off his face. "Do you promise to tell me if there's someone else?"

"Mari..." he whispers by keeping writing.

"Seriously, if there's someone else, or if there's something going on with _her_."

When he looks at her, he seems slightly worried, a little surprised, and if Marinette focuses, she can even detect a splinter of sadness in his eyes. "And if there's something going on with _him_ , you'll tell me?"

She nods, almost sure of showing the same emotions. "Well, third rule?" she declares with the voice the most relaxed she can. His eyes crinkled, Adrien seems to not know what she is talking about. Marinette pulls the notebook out of his hands. "Things to do and to _definitely_ _not_ do in public," she recites at the rhythm of her writing.

"I see," he answers, a smile in his voice. Marinette taps the tip of her pen on her lips.

"Can I do this?" A hand on her thigh, the other on her butt.

Her mouth which half-opens and the pen which collides with her teeth. "Adrien! Did you already forget the first rule?"

He raises his hands above his head, but his eyes undress her faster than his fingers could ever have.

Marinette grabs the notebook and the pen on the mat and starts to write again. "First thing to definitely not do: looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

Marinette sighs by looking up at him and Adrien's smile just grows bigger. "Like we did things..."

His laugh bursts and sounds at her ears like the nicest melody. It is a communicative laugh, the kind of laugh which is funnier than the joke itself. "Marinette..." he whispers, shaking his head.

The way he is looking at her makes her shiver. It is not so much the desire that she is perceiving in his eyes, but rather the affection and the poignant sincerity of this feeling. Unsettled, Marinette clears her throat, nervously rewriting the words already written. A sigh of relief relaxes her contracted shoulders when Adrien eventually stops looking at her.

"It's pretty simple," he says, putting his chin on Marinette's knee. "We can do anything except jump on each other."

Marinette clicks her tongue several times against her palate. "No, no, it's way more complicated than that."

"It is?"

A sigh later and she plunges her eyes into his. "Yes, no kissing and no touching each other in public would be a good start," she confirms. "But it’s not just that. We can't be too close, but not too apart either, or everybody will find this weird. We have to control our gazes but not avoid looking at each other either. And if someone asks us a question, it's important to not let our awkwardness appear, otherwise..."

"Speak for yourself," he replies, smiling.

Marinette would like to deny it, but he is right. And that is exactly what is annoying her. 

"Like you were never uncomfortable!" He shrugs his shoulders, chin still on her knee.

"Less than you."

She rolls her eyes before concentrating on her notebook again.

"Plus, is it really necessary to control ourselves this much? People don't notice these things."

Marinette chuckles, shaking her head.

"What?"

" _You_ don't notice these things," she corrects.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asks, standing up straight.

"Nothing," she whispers by affectionately caressing his hair. "Nothing at all." She looks up at him again when his hand begins to go down along her thigh.

“Marinette… Are you really sure you know what you’re getting into?” She opens her mouth, but he puts his finger against her lips. "I'm not talking about our relationship, but how it could affect you." Marinette's eyebrows frowned. "Everybody knows me. I'm not saying this to praise myself, because I would really like it if it weren’t like that, but it is. You know how complicated it was to not get caught this summer, and you know how much people love this kind of story. And, according to you, these same people will spend the year observing us.”

He looks down for a second, licks his lips and looks up again, a sparkle of worry in his eyes. "And if we are not careful enough? Or if somebody saw us this summer? Or if somebody tells it to somebody who tells it to somebody else? You have a far better knowledge of rumors than I do, given that I’ve gone to school for only a few years, but... I don't need much experience to know what will happen if somebody finds out."

Marinette opens her mouth again, but the pressure of his finger deepens. "I don't want to tell you what to do, I really don't. It's just that... take a few seconds to imagine what people could say if they know what we are doing, Mari. I would get over it. I would be treated to some remarks, some smiles, some teasings, at most. My future would not suffer from it. But you..."

He brings his face closer to hers. "I'm learning a little more every day about this world, about what I have been kept from all these years, but I have learned how cruel society can be. And especially to women. You will be judged because you have a sex life, judged because you have a particular sex life and judged because you have all this with me. People will tell you that you take advantage of my celebrity status, that you..."

His voice breaks and he looks down again. Marinette puts her hand on his wrist and kisses his finger tenderly, still set on her lips. She intertwines her fingers with his and uses her other hand to slightly raise his face toward her. He seems so worried, so guilty by his hypothesis that Marinette feels her throat tighten. "You're right," she says with a husky voice. "I will not tell you not to worry or not to imagine things because you're right. If people find out, it'll be exactly as you just described it."

"So..." he begins.

" _But_ I want to keep going. I don't want to deprive myself of something that makes me happy only because of what people may think, Adrien. I don't want to live like this." He nods, his eyes still darkened. "You're my best friend," she whispers, getting closer. "I trust you, more than anyone. And I know that you'll do everything you can to keep it secret. It is all that matters."

His Adam's apple moves when he swallows and Marinette notices that his look is on her lips. "Okay," he simply answers.

> _ Boom — Anjulie_

"Now, sign," she says by giving him the notebook.

With one hand, he takes the pen and scribbles his name. The other is still settled on her thigh and he begins to lightly caress her skin through her sport leggings. Her bottom lip between her teeth, Marinette lets her fingers run along his torso.

"Very _Fifty Shades of Grey_ ," Adrien whispers by letting his hand go down a little more.

She gently pinches the skin of his ribs and takes the pen from his hands, smiling. The intense and amused gaze of Adrien keeps enveloping her in a bubble of desire which is growing more and more burning around her. All of a sudden, while his hand reaches the bottom of her stomach and she is feeling herself leading their moves, a cry escapes her. Her pen traces a long black line on the page and falls on the ground.

Adrien's fingers are now pressed against her core, offering her enough pressure to make the bubble explode and change it into a tsunami. 

"Here?" she asks against his lips which are brushing hers.The pressure between her thighs heightens and her mouth automatically opens, letting escape a moan.

"Hmm..." he whispers.

"Nobody will... _mmm_... catch us?" Her throat was dry, her skin on fire, her nerves on edge.

"Not if we're discreet."

His eyes, until then fixed on her lips, plunge into hers. At the same time, his fingers begin to move, and if Adrien hadn't kissed her, her moan would have sounded all around the fitness room. When Marinette's hand reaches the elastic of his jogging pants, he stands up, taking her with him.

His lips still around his, Marinette gasps against him when he makes her go backwards, until her lower back touches something. She doesn't make the effort to ask what Adrien just put her against and wraps his waist with her legs, bringing his hips closer to hers.

Breathless, Marinette detaches her lips from his and opens her eyelids, discovering Adrien's burning look. "We didn't finish our workout," she whispers.

"We are working out."

His cheeks reddened, mouth half-opened, breath twitchy, he smiles. While keeping his eyes anchored into hers, he runs his fingers below the elastic of her leggings and begins to pull it down along her legs, taking her panties with it. Her tee-shirt and her sports bra follow, quickly accompanied by Adrien's clothes, which end up on the floor at a pretty impressive speed.

"Agreste?" she asks when he lowers himself to grab a condom from the pocket of his jogging pants.

"Hm?"

"Why do you have a condom when we are working out?"He stands up, and his smile grows only bigger.

"Because..." he whispers by putting the protection on. "For the cardio?" His look plunges into hers again, and Marinette cannot help laughing.

But at the same time, his mouth goes to her chest, his hand between her thighs and a moan replaces her laugh. Marinette violently presses her hand against her mouth and bites her lips, feeling Adrien's smile against her skin.

She hangs on his shoulders, grasping at his skin, at his muscles which are contracting, sinking her nails at the same rhythm Adrien's fingers are sinking into her. He looks up at her, wets his lips and whispers with a hoarse voice: "Sure?"

Marinette, unable to constitute words, removes her hand from her mouth and puts it tenderly on his cheek. His skin is soft, warm, reassuring. She nods and closes her eyes, incapable of supporting the intensity of his look and the movement of his fingers at the same time.

Suddenly, his lips settle on hers, his hand on the back of her neck and his fingers on the inside of her thigh. Marinette automatically spreads her legs and sighs against his mouth when feeling the warmness and the wetness of his hand on her skin. His tongue gently brushes her lower lip. His caresses on her thigh are tender. His grip on the back of her neck is light.

So, Marinette cannot retain a gasp of surprise when he starts to nibble on her lip. She barely has time to recover from her surprise when Adrien lets his fingers run to the front of her neck. His hand gently wraps around it and Marinette instinctively squeezes her thighs.

She opens her eyelids and the fire between her legs moves from intense to unbearable. Adrien's look is darkened by the desire but a smile keeps floating on his lips while he slightly tightens his fingers around her neck. Marinette's breath becomes chaotic. He is not squeezing hard enough to stop her breath, but his effect on her makes it feel like there is no air left. "Adrien..." she moans without stopping to look at him.

"I want you to remember this moment," he whispers, bringing his face closer to hers. "Next week, when we'll be at school, and when we'll repeat this summer on loop in our head," he continues by pressing his mouth against her ear.

An incredibly powerful shiver runs along her body, making her shake. She can feel Adrien's smile grow bigger. 

"When nobody around us will know what is going on inside our head, I want you to remember this."

And he applies a slight pressure with his hand which is still squeezed between her legs, spreading her legs with a quick move.

"This..."

And he brings his pelvis closer to hers, wrapping a hand around her hips to stabilize her.

"And _this_."

And he is inside her. Marinette instinctively bends against him and sinks her nails into his back. And, when he kisses her, Marinette knows she is about to spend a year which will leave its mark on her, one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! Yes, it's not very long but it's the first one and I wanted to present the plot.  
> I know the feelings of Marinette aren't really developed but it's normal! Once again, I wanted to present simply the beginning of the story without really going into details.  
> So, the next chapter will be in Marinette's POV again and you'll have access to her feelings more deeply this time. I'll try to alternate the POV, too!  
> The second chapter isn't wrote yet, so it could be a bit long before I publish it... I have to write it in French first, translate it in English and correct it after, so... I know I should have wait to have a chapter in advance to post this one but I couldn't wait anymore... Oops :p
> 
> Anyways! I'm realizing I'm really chatty right know but I'm really excited about this fic! 
> 
> Don't forget to let a comment and to subscribe to be alert when the second chapter will be online. I wish you a very good day and I'll do my best to publish the next chapter at the end of the next week!
> 
> Have a good day!
> 
> (P.S: about the picture at the end... I did it on Good Notes and I tried to imitate Marinette's and Adrien's hand writing. I've even searched their signatures to make it more realistic, I hope you like the idea!)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all your kudos!  
> I'm really sorry for the wait but here is the second chapter!  
> Thank again to Khanofallorcs and to Labyrinthofchaos for the help! Go check their profiles ^^  
> I wish you a very good reading!

> Way to the future — Katie Herzing 

“What I mean is that it’s still pretty new,” explains Nino.

“It’s been over two months,” Marinette answers through the phone.

A light sigh comes to her ears, but she is too concentrated on her makeup to really notice it. Leaning over her mirror, Marinette draws her eye liner, showing all the meticulousness she’s capable of. 

“Two months during which you could see each other _every_ day and do _all_ you wanted.”

Marinette moves her face back and carefully observes the symmetry of her makeup. “Hmm,” she mumbles after a few seconds.

New sigh. Less discreet this time. Marinette lets herself fall against her chair. “And you think I didn’t think about it?”

“Thinking about it and living it are two _very_ different things, Mari.”

Here, it’s Marinette who sighs. 

“Are you still sure about it?”

She sits up straight and grabs her mascara before leaning over the mirror again. “Yes.”

Fragments of whispered words and a soft laugh answer her. “Spill,” she says, spreading the mascara on her eyelashes. 

“It’s just that there are so many things that should make you stop your.. thing. The fact that if somebody finds it, it could end very badly. The fact that you’ll be very frustrated—believe me—during the whole year. The fact that you expect more of a relationship.”

Marinette plunges the brush back in the tube and puts her makeup away a little bit too bluntly. “And who tells you that I expect more of a relationship?”

“I know you.”

After she picks up a pair of shoes, she sits on her bed, her phone next to her. But she quickly gives up the idea of putting them on. Her hands are shaking way too much to do it.

“Mari?”

“Do you think I should stop? Sincerely?”

A few seconds pass and Marinette painly swallows the lump that formed in her throat. 

“No,” he finally answers.

Her shoulders automatically release. It’s silly, because even if Nino had told him the opposite, she wouldn’t have stopped.

But knowing that one of her best friends supports her is reassuring, despite everything. 

She and Nino have known each other for ten years now. They were friends before she even met Alya, before he even met Adrien. Even if, most of the time, he doesn’t really take anything or anyone seriously, he’s always here for her. And to feel listened to, _truly_ listened to, even though it’s not in his nature to listen this long without cracking a joke makes it way more precious.

“Yeah, it’s complicated. And yeah, you’re taking a big risk. And yeah, you’ll probably suffer from this situation. But when you’ll think back on this in a few years, I think you’ll be glad to have continued what made you happy at the moment.”

It’s for these kinds of sentences that Marinette deeply loves Nino. His advice is always spread between a sea of jokes and sarcasm, and it’s what makes it endlessly more touching. “Thanks, Nino,” she answers.

“And, he’s a good lay, isn’t he?”

It’s mostly for this that she can’t get along without him. Always the right word, the right answer to ease the situation, to restore smiles, to bring back the good mood. “Nino!” she shouts, laughing.

She shakes her head and begins to put her shoes on. Her hands aren’t shaking anymore.

“C’mon, spill,” he says, imitating her voice.

Marinette answers him with a grumble. “I have no means to compare,” she eventually answers before she stands up and walks towards her dressing table.

“Neither does he,” Nino whispers.

Marinette, the fingers sliding in her hair, raises an eyebrow. “Did he tell you something?”

“Maybe…”

A chuckle escapes from her phone and Marinette throws more than she puts her stuff in her bag. 

“One piece of info for another, it’s how it works.”

“He’ll tell me, if I ask him directly, anyways,” she says.

“No, he’ll never tell you that,” Nino laughs.

Marinette suddenly closes her bag. “Tell me!”

No answer.

“Well, all right. Even if I wanted to stop I don’t think my body would let me because it’s really _amazing_ and I know I’ll be frustrated during the whole year and during the rest of my life because we haven’t see each other for two days and I already feel like I’m gonna _explode_ and then I’m a Scorpio and I have to breathe.”

A second.

Two.

And Nino bursts out laughing. 

Marinette feels a smile chuckle her lips but her amusement turns into terror when she hears not only Nino’s laugh but… 

“Adrien?”

The chuckles become only louder and Marinette feels her heart throw itself against her chest and her cheeks catch fire. “Nino, you fucking…”

“Hey! Language!”

A new voice. “Alya?”

“Herself,” she theatrically answers.

Marinette opens her mouth, begins a sentence but changes her mind. She keeps walking in her room, the phone in her hand. “I’m gonna hang up.”

“Oh, c’mon, Mari…” Nino begins.

She doesn’t let them have the time to avoid her. Marinette puts her phone in her bag, checks herself one last time in the mirror and nods. 

“Not too stressed?” Tikki asks, letting her head poke out of her bag.

Marinette offers her a smile. “Yes,” she honestly says.

“It’s gonna be okay, Marinette.”

She agrees by a nod and takes a deep breath.

“Here we go.”

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

> Oversleeping — I’m From Barcelona 

Marinette quickly goes downstairs into the living room and finds her mom, who welcomes her with a glance overflowing with kindness. 

“Here,” she says, giving her a small packet. 

A smile on her face, she discovers that there are a croissant and a few macarons in it. “Thanks, mom.”

Sabine gets closer to her daughter and puts her hands on her cheeks before affectionately caressing her hair. “I can’t believe you’re in senior year.”

“Me neither,” she admits. 

“Enjoy it, everything will be so different in one year.”

Marinette nods and retains the worries which are already beginning to confuse her mind. She kisses the cheek of her mom and rapidly goes to the bakery. Her dad is serving a man who seems to be in a hurry—so are all the Parisians. 

“Have a good day, honey,” he says to her once the customer served. 

“You, too, dad.”

“Wait, wait!” he shouts when she pushes the bakery’s door.

The eyebrows frowned, Marinette stands back and gets close to her dad again.

“Someone’s waiting for you in the back, at the service door.”

“Who… _Oh_.” Her cheeks become red at the same time the lips of Tom straighten. Marinette raises herself on her tiptoes and puts her lips on the cheek of her dad to hide her confusion. “See you tonight, dad.”

And she dives herself into the kitchen of the bakery. Marinette knows this place inside out: she has spent hours to help her dad, to learn everything he was happy to teach her… and to have let sneakily Adrien in during all summer. The smell of the fresh bread tickles her nostrils and this perfume calms her instantly down. It was a reassuring smell, one which makes her feel home.

She eventually opens the door which is giving on the back of the bakery, on a little street where she’s never seen anyone. 

Adrien’s here.

“Hey,” he says, smiling.

Marinette closes the door with her back and leans on it, arms crossed, eyes creased. Adrien’s look slides along her body and the little smile he’s wearing makes her roll her eyes. “You’re not supposed to look at me like _that_.”

His eyes meet hers again and his smile deepens. He gets closer to her and Marinette feels her breath blow away when he puts his hand on her waist. “What are you doing?” she whispers.

“I’m carrying your frustration away,” he murmurs against her ear.

And Marinette feels her heart jump in her chest. She wants it, she really wants it. To Kiss him, right now. To run her hands through his golden hair, press her body against his, feel his hands on her skin, lose herself in a steamy, delicious embrace. 

Adrien’s lips brush hers. 

“I hate you,” she whispers against his mouth.

And she pushes him. Marinette may have a lot of faults, but she has pretty impressive self-control. 

“No, you love me,” he answers, passing his arm around her shoulders.

She grumbles something she’s not really understanding herself and they begin to walk.

“No chauffeur?” she asks when they arrive in another narrow street.

“No, I managed to negotiate,” he says, winking. 

A smile slips in Marinette’s face. “Nobody will ask questions if they see us coming together?”

Adrien shrugs his shoulders. “It’s what friends do, right?”

“Hmm…”

“What?”

Marinette is nervously playing with the packet her mom has given her.

“It’s just that… people will ask questions. It’s not like you’re close to a lot of girls.”

“Then we’ll tell the truth.”

She looks at him, eyebrows frowned. “That we sleep together?”

Adrien bursts out laughing and tightens his hold on her shoulders. “That we’re _friends_.”

“Oh,” Marinette whispers, blushing.

> I Shall Believe — Sheryl Crow 

She finally opens the packet and greedily crunches on the croissant. The lump in her stomach has disappeared the second she has seen Adrien, now replaced by a warm and nice feeling deep down her belly. 

When she bites on her pastry again, she hears his stomach growling. Marinette automatically turns her head and sees Adrien’s contracted jaw and his staring eyes. 

“Did you eat this morning?” she seriously asks. 

He’s not laughing at all anymore and the hand around her shoulders is tense. “Adrien?”

“No,” he admits.

Marinette lets escape a sigh. During these last months, she learned to know Adrien. To _really_ know him. They’ve shared very intimate moments, physically and emotionally. 

She talked to him about a lot of things which worry her, torture her. Things she very rarely reveals. Her future plans, her insecurities, her feelings, among other things.

For every piece of her life shared, he has revealed her a fragment of his. It’s thus that she has learned that what she thought she knew about the influence of his father was only the tip of the iceberg. She believed he was authoritarian, strict and cold, but these adjectives were actually way too soft to describe the man that is Gabriel Agreste.

He’s not authoritarian, he’s tyrannical. He’s not strict, he’s intransigeant. He’s not cold, he’s icy. And the way he’s treating his son is certainly not healthy. 

Without asking more questions, Marinette hands him her croissant and the packet in which there are still a half dozen macarons. 

“Mari…”

“There’s only me,” she says, getting her body closer to his. “It’s okay.”

He nods and takes a deep breath. Marinette lays her head on his shoulder for an instant and enjoys the warmth of his skin against hers.

And they don’t talk about it anymore. She perfectly well knows how much he hates broaching this subject. And if he wants to talk about it, Marinette has made sure he understands she’s here. 

It has taken her a few weeks to realize something wasn’t right. The fact that he was always hesitant to eat when they’re at her home or his. The fact that he always seems starving, everytime she eats something. The twitch of his jaw at every mention of his father. Piece by piece, Marinette has eventually reconstituted the puzzle, and even though it took her a moment to find the right words, the right time and the right way to do it, she has finally talked to him about her suppositions. 

Suppositions which were frightfully true.

Marinette knows—like most people—about the slimness imposed on models. It’s something she finds particularly stupid, by the way. But that’s not the point, and she perfectly understands that. No matter how much she can _hate_ Gabriel and find him monstrous, it is not what is going to help Adrien here.

Only, this quest for a body that is perfectly suited to the ideals of society is always something she has seen from the outside. She never has a real problem with her body, with the way it’s growing, and it’s something she measures the luck a little more every day. 

But discovering that it’s a real torment, a torment which is directly affecting Adrien, has deeply hit her.

It’s, in addition, different with him. He’s not refusing to eat to reach an impossible physical goal. No, he’s refusing himself to eat for his dead, _because_ of his dad. He’s indirectly a victim of this social pressure. And it’s even more frustrating to Marinette.

Because he knows how serious this is. He’s not trapped in a vicious spiral where he’s the only actor. No, he’s trapped in the toxic expectations and the dictatorship of his dad.

She turns her head, glances at his perfectly drawn jaw, his angular face, his hollowed cheeks. His features are thin enough for him to be courted by tens of model agencies and for Gabriel to keep him captive from his control. But they aren’t thin enough for someone—other than Marinette—to notice it.

The slenderness of his arms is hidden by his muscles, and so is the fineness of his chest. Marinette has had the occasion to see him naked—and more than once—and he never appeared _really_ thin to her.

His angst is only internal. But she knows perfectly well that it’s just a matter of time before his dad’s control is also seen on his body. Time which is slipping through her fingers, as fast as water, without worrying about what’s happening around it. Without worrying about Adrien’s dark rings under his eyes, about his green eyes in which something dark is beginning to obscure the glow. 

> Before It Breaks — Brandi Carlile 

“What’s going on?”

Marinette shakes her head and looks at the street again. She wants to talk, to comfort him, but the words aren’t coming out. Today’s problems are the same as this summer’s, but they seem more real, more threatening, when other menaces are coming.

“Nothing,” she succeeds in articulating.

Her voice is shaking.

Adrien stops and puts his two hands on her shoulders, making her face him. Marinette looks up at him and notices—with relief—that he has eaten all the croissant.

“I’m _fine_.”

“I know, I—sorry,” she whispers, biting nervously her lips.

He smiles at her, and the weight in her chest lightens. “Don’t be, okay?”

She nods and doesn’t understand why her throat tightens. The more she’s telling herself how ridiculous she is, the more her eyes are stinging her. Adrien frowns his eyebrows and she looks away. 

“Mari?”

The tears which want to come out of her eyes, they aren’t sad ones. They’re angry ones. Frustrated, fearful ones. 

“Marinette?”

She finally looks up at him and feels a tear escape from her eye at the same time.

“Oh, _Mari_ ,” he whispers. 

And everything explodes. Sobs spring from her throat, tears run along her cheeks, and no coherent word can form on her lips anymore. Something warm and powerful closes around her and her face crushes against the familiar and comforting chest of Adrien.

“I’m fine,” he murmurs, the chin against her head. “I promise. It’s gonna be okay.”

Marinette takes deep breaths and exhales as calmly as she can. It’s a heap, an accumulation of little repeated worries, of tiny assembled problems. It’s the way she works. 

She never externalises her feelings in the moment—or only very rarely. It’s only after a triggering factor that all her buried feelings collapse on her, like a landslide. 

She just would have prefered it to not happen on the first day of school, right in the middle of a street—empty, yes, but still—and in front of Adrien. Although, after all, it’s better than to burst into tears in front of the entire school. 

“I’m sorry,” she says after she brings her breath back. She steps slightly back, enough to look him in the eyes, but not enough to not feel his skin against hers. “You have a problem and I’m the one who…”

The end of her sentence never sees the light of day: Adrien just puts his finger on her lips. “Don’t apologize,” he repeats. “It’s normal, you’re the only one to know, and it’s a lot for one person to take.”

“Okay, but what about _you_? How do you manage to be okay?”

His lips straighten and his face gets closer to hers. “Thanks to you.”

The honesty of his words makes her feel something and its contrary: her heart calms down and speeds at the same time. 

“You have _no_ _idea_ how much you help me, Mari.”

She doesn’t know what to say except nonsense stammers, doesn’t know what to do except blush.

But it seems that she doesn’t need to say a word. Adrien looks at her for a few seconds, and Marinette catches his eyes drift towards her lips, but he eventually moves away.

His arm finds itself around her shoulders again and the packet still full of macarons becomes empty pretty quickly.

They talk no more all the way. It’s not necessary. Marinette needs time to calm herself down, and she knows she doesn’t need to explain herself for him to understand it.

Streets begin to fill and Adrien’s arm is removed from her shoulders to remain, more wisely, along his body. Looks begin to turn towards us before they even reach their highschool street. 

“It’s gonna be okay,” he tells her when the building starts to appear before them.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she repeats.

> Kids — MGMT 

“Hey!”

Marinette barely has the time to hear this that a pair of arms wrap around her neck and a body collapses against hers. Two seconds later, she realizes it’s Alya and five seconds after, she warmly hugs her back.

Her best friend went for Martinique all summer long and only came home the day before. Of course, they called each other very often and Alya knows about _everything_ that happened.

“Agreste!” she yells, stepping back from her friend.

Adrien takes a step back and Marinette can’t help but smile. Alya hits his shoulder, making him step back even more and Marinette presses her hand against her mouth to not burst out laughing.

“Ouch! What? Happy to see you, too,” he mutters.

“I leave her to you for two months,” she whispers, “two little months and you…”

All of a sudden, she turns to Marinette who stops laughing right away. Adrien rubs his shoulder and looks at her, entertained. 

“I leave him to you for two months,” she repeats to Marinette, “and you corrupt the purest being in the city? Paris’ golden child?”

“Hey!” Adrien speaks.

“I told you to take care of him,” Alya continues.

“I did take care of him,” Marinette mumbles.

“Yes, she _did_ ,” Adrien says.

Eyes looks at him. 

“What? While the cat’s away, the mice…”

Marinette pinches her lips to not laugh.

“It fucks the other mice?”

“Alya!” they grumble at the same time. “Keep your voice _down_!”

She raises her hands, smiling. 

“It’s gonna be fun, this year.” Nino approaches behind Alya, hands on her shoulders.

“Oh, yeah.”

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Marinette is walking in the hallway, Adrien on her right, Nino behind her and Alya next to him. She can feel gazes turn toward them—well, toward Adrien—and talking stops as they pass. 

“ _Everybody_ knows you,” she says to him.

He answers her with a sigh and Marinette has to stick her nails in her palm to not take his hand. 

“It’s like we’re in a series or something. It’s really weird,” Alya says.

“Agreste!”

Marinette stops at the same as Adrien and lets Alya and Nino know to keep going. The person who called him is a boy with messy brown hair. His eyes are as grey as the Parisian sky and Marinette doesn’t like the expression on his face. She really doesn't. There’s something sick in the way he’s looking at her. Adrien must feel it too because he slightly puts himself before her, in a protective way. 

“Adam,” he says with a colder voice than usual.

“So, what’s up? How were your holidays?”

Marinette sees his glance drift towards hers once again but she doesn’t look away. She doesn’t need to see it to know that Adrien’s jaw is tense. 

“Pretty good. What about you?”

“Oh, you know. The South, the beach, the sea, girls…”

Adrien deepens his look and Marinette raises an eyebrow. 

“Yeah.”

“Introduce me?” Adam asks, getting closer to Adrien.

Marinette, half-hidden him, notices that Adam has to lift his eyes to look at him. Adrien swallows, contracts his jaw again. She knows he’s not about to answer what Adam wants him to answer, so she takes action to avoid a conflict—the attention is already enough points to them like that.

“I’m Marinette,” she says with the most confident voice possible.

A disgusted shiver runs along her spine when Adam looks at her, without hiding it, from top to bottom. “Adam. Pleased to meet you.”

“We have to catch up with our friends, so…”

“See you later, Marinette.”

“Yeah, right,” Adrien whispers.

Adam suddenly looks at him, a smile on his face, but a threatening glow in his eyes. And he goes away, not without brushing against her as he passes. 

“What the hell?” she says, turning towards Adrien.

“He does fencing with me,” he explains while starting to walk again, “and we’ve already ended up on the same shoots.”

Jealousy and testosterone. A perfect blend to make them spend an awful year.

“I hate men,” she grumbles.

“So do I.”

She likes the fact that he doesn’t answer “even me?” and that he has the presence of mind to know that she’s not talking about him. She likes the fact that he has tried to protect her but that he hasn’t stopped her from taking control of the situation. She likes the fact that he’s remaining so close to her without actually touching her and arousing suspicion. 

> Royals — Lorde 

“Did you manage to get rid of Mr. Narcissist?” Alya asks when they meet her and Nino.

“For now.”

“Has he always been here?” Marinette questions.

“Pretty much, yeah. He started Sophomore year at the same time as we did. You’ve never seen him before?”

“Never.”

“You were too busy to see someone else,” Alya whispers, loudly enough to make herself clear to her three friends.

“Alya,” Marinette grumbles.

Adrien holds a chuckle back and she sinks her elbow in his side. 

“Ouch! Did you all decide to hurt me today?” he moans. 

“And did you all decide to humiliate me today?”

“No worries, tomorrow we switch,” Nino answers, affectionately tousling her hair.

Marinette mumbles and sighs at the same time. The amusement felt by her friends quickly turns into concentration. They’re standing in line to watch the class lists for this year and eventually arrive before the sheets are darkened by names.

“Why do they always put these things so high?” Marinette sighs, looking up so she can read.

“It’s not that high,” Adrien says.

Marinette can feel his body behind hers and his head over hers. “Easy to say when you’re ten feet tall.”

“I’m not _that_ tall,” he says, laughing. “You’re the little one.”

“I’m on my tiptoe, I’m not small.”

“Yes, you are. And on your feet, you’re _tiny_.”

“Watch out, Agreste.”

A chuckle answers her.

“I can carry you, if you want,” he discreetly whispers.

“Don’t mind us, lovebirds.”

She knows he’s pinching his lips to hold himself back to burst out laughing. She’s doing the same thing.

“Year 12 - 1 

Adrien Agreste

…

Adam Kent”

“Great,” Adrien sighs.

“It looks like I’m not in your class, Goldilocks,” Alya says.

“It _almost_ looks like you’re disappointed,” he answers.

His hoarse voice is way too close to her ear for Marinette to focus on the list in front of her. 

“Me neither, dude,” Nino sighs.

“Don’t tell me I’m alone with this…”

“Marinette’s with you”, Alya cuts him off.

“Well, well,” Nino continues. 

“What a _coincidence…_ ”

“You two _never_ stop, do you?” Marinette mumbles. 

Adrien’s laugh sounds behind her and a shiver brushes her entire body. She looks at the list again and notices she’s indeed in Adrien’s class. But not only.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng

…

Lila Rossi”

“What?” she shouts. “ _What_?”

“What, what?”

“Here!” she yells, putting her finger on Lila’s name. “No, no way!”

She steps aside from the wall, letting the other students take her place. Lila had definitely left the city when they started high school. Marinette had never known where she’d gone, and had never cared about it. The further away she was, the better it was. The fact that she’s now coming back to their high school, in their last year, is something she absolutely never saw coming.

The fact that Adrien’s in her class, that Alya and Nino aren’t and that Adam is going to be close to her during the entire year are totally pushed into the background. The only thoughts her brain is managing to produce include the first name “Lila” and other words which aren’t really politically correct. 

“Mari?”

Adrien, Alya and Nino are walking towards her. They’re not laughing anymore and all have the same expression: surprise mixed with annoyance and concern. 

“Maybe she has changed,” Nino proposes.

“Of course!” Alya says ironically. “Once a lying bitch, always a lying bitch, it’s my motto.”

“Maybe we can ask to switch?” Adrien asks.

Marinette takes a deep breath, trying to evacuate her fury at the same time as the carbon dioxide. “No, they’ll never agree. Especially without a motive.”

“You do have a motive! Mental health,” Alya says.

“She’s right,” Nino adds.

“It’ll never work. You know this as well as I do. And, maybe Nino’s right, maybe she did change.”

“Do you really believe this?”

“No,” she answers. “But _I_ changed. Alya, please, don’t say anything,” she adds, seeing her best friend open her mouth.

She raises her hands, under the amused gazes of the two boys. 

“I’ll keep my cool, more than I did three years ago. It’ll be okay. I’m just disappointed to not be with you guys…”

Alya put an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll meet in some classes,” she reassures her. 

“Besides, it’s not like the four of us are all alone,” Nino adds.

“I can’t believe it, I’ll not even be there to keep an eye on you two!” Alya says. 

“What a _shame_!” Adrien says with a smile.

“So,” Nino whispers, getting slightly closer, “let me explain to you how it works: no fondling during classes, no foreplay in the bathroom, no…”

“ _Nino_!” Adrien and Marinette shout, blushing.

He and Alya burst out laughing, quickly followed by their two friends.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

> Shove It — Santigold 

Marinette and Adrien walk into their classroom, already half filled with students. She barely has time to realize what just happened that Marinette is stricken by another problem: how to keep secret what is going on between her and Adrien. Pretending to have a simple friendship while being surrounded with their friends is one thing. But pretending to not have done more than watch movies and laugh together when they’re about to spend the year stuck to each other is another. 

Of course, Marinette is thrilled to be in the same class as Adrien. The joy of not being apart from him compensates for the disappointment of not being with Alya and Nino. But the relief isn’t hiding the anxiety which is beginning to infiltrate her veins. 

Without needing to speak, Marinette and Adrien sit next to each other, in the right middle of the classroom. She lets herself fall on her seat and puts her hands on her temples, her elbows on the table. 

“Adrien!”

Marinette’s entire body of tenses. She turns her head slightly towards Adrien. His lips are pinched, his eyes open wide, and she would have laughed if Lila hadn’t been the reason for his face.

“Great, we’re in the same class!”

“Great,” Adrien repeats.

Marinette knows he’s trying to be polite but the wariness is clear in his voice. However, Lila doesn’t let him unsettle her. 

“I’m so glad to be back,” she says unctuously.

A hand settled on her hip, the other on the table before Adrien, she’s slightly bent towards him, lips straightened in a smile which seems to be almost as false as Adrien’s is forced. 

“Why are you back? Why now, I mean?” he asks.

“Oh, I wanted to come back earlier, but time goes so quickly! I stayed in England for one year and then one year in the USA. It’s crazy how different it is up there!”

“It must be.”

Lila seems thrown off balance for a moment, but a second passes and her voice is more cheerful than ever.

“Thankfully, I have my bearings here, in Paris,” she says, brushing innocently his arm.

Marinette frowns her eyebrows, the head still in her hands. 

“Thankfully,” he repeats, discreetly clearing his arm from her hold.

Lila instantly loses her smile and Marinette can’t help but chuckle. Her eyes meet her in an instant, like an eagle spots his next prey, and Marinette’s amusement goes immediately away. 

“I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” she says, getting her false kindness back.

Adrien frowns his eyebrows and Marinette creases her eyes. 

“It’s Marinette,” he says.

A glow of pure shock drew deep down Lila’s eyes and another feeling deforms her face for a second. Is it fear? Marinette doesn’t have the time to answer that question that she quickly gets her façade of friendship back. 

“Of course,” she says. “It must be all these years abroad and all these people I’ve met. There are some faces I forget easier than others.”

Marinette sees Adrien tenses in his seat and she gently kicks him under the table to prevent him from stepping in. 

“It must be that,” she assures, smiling. 

“Anyways, Adrien,” Lila continues, turning towards him. “You can sit next to me, you don’t have to stay next to her.”

He looks at her for a moment before shaking his head. “And you don’t have to stay next to me.”

Marinette hides her face in her hands to conceal her smile. Scandalized is a really weak word to describe Lila right now. Thankfully, the teacher arrives and urges the students to go to their places.

“You know who my dad is, Adrikins. One word and I send her back to another continent,” Chloé whispers to him, sitting just behind him. 

A smile straightens Adrien’s lips and he looks behind his shoulder. “I’ll think about it. Thanks, Chlo.”

She shrugs her shoulders and entirely sits on her seat. Her golden hair is cascading past her shoulders, making the blue of her eyes even more piercing. 

“Hi, Marinette’, she says to her, smiling.

“Hi, Chloé.”

Adrien lets out a chuckle and they look at him.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll never get used to it,” he whispers, a pen in his hand, eyes to the board. 

Chloé rolls her eyes and Marinette completely turns over the teacher, a smile on her lips. They’d made peace a few years ago, when they started high school. Chloé had grown up, and even if she has a sharp honesty and a little bit of natural narcissism and disdain, Marinette has to admit that she's become particularly funny and weirdly sweet. 

Of course, they’re not great friends; Marinette wouldn’t call her in the middle of the night to talk to her about her problems and Chloé is probably glad about it. 

But, she needs her, Marinette knows Chloe’s here. And it’s always comforting to have someone to cover her if necessary. Especially with this crazy year coming. 

“Good morning to everyone,” the teacher begins. “As you know, this year is particularly important…”

Marinette looks around her, half attentive to the speech. 

The very last year of high school. 

And a scream rings out. And a thousand yells follow it. And Marinette feels her heart beat faster. 

“We need Ladybug!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
> To be clear on some points :  
> — I'll—of course—develop the part about the relationship of Adrien and his dad, because it's a very important subject and I really wanted to bring that up.  
> — I don't know when I'll be able to post the third chapter, I almost started it... I have a lot of classes these days, so it'll not be online until the end of the next week, I guess :(  
> — I know there's a lot of vague things, like how Adrien and Marinette ended up like this, how Marinette's dealing with everything, how's the relationship between LB and Cat Noir... I'll explain everything but I don't want to do it in one time, I think it's better when it's sprinkled along the story!  
> — About Adam, I was searching a name and I'm currently reading Shatter Me (omg I love it) and Adam is becoming annoying so... I took his name x) Poor Adam...  
> — Don't forget to leave comments!!!! It really helps and motivates me and it takes just a few seconds!  
> I wish you a very very good day and I hope you're alright, don't hesitate to send me a message if you need to talk :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm so happy to publish you this chapter!  
> I'm so sorry I took all this time, but I have a ton of classes lately and it's really hard to juggle with uni, writing, translating, reading, and sleeping.  
> Anyways, the chapter worths the wait because he's kinda long and... you'll see :p I want to thank Khanofallorcs who really helps me!  
> Good reading to you all!

A feeling of control, freedom and invincibility spreads inside Adrien’s veins when he becomes Chat Noir. It’s a mixture of emotions that only his heroic alter-ego can give him.

He has forgotten how intoxicating it is, how _euphoric_ it is. Actually, the summer which has just ended has been pretty sparse in akumatisations. It’s what usually happens during July and August, when the city is overrun by tourists and most of the Parisians go take refuge in the south of France. During all these years that Ladybug and him have been fighting Hawk Moth, summer has always been the slack period.

Then it’s back to school and Hawk Moth is always super determined. 

The idea of being able to spend pretty much normal holidays isn’t all that attractive to Adrien. No akumatized people to rescue means no Chat Noir suit to put on, no recovered freedom.

And no Ladybug.

But this summer has been different. He hasn’t spent it being bored and waiting for the start of the school year. 

No, he has spent it with Marinette. 

His father has been on a business trip to the four corners of the earth for nearly two months, leaving him under the care of Nathalie and the other members of the staff.

Adrien really likes Nathalie. She’s considerate, kind and devoted. Even if she carries out the orders of his father to the letter, he can see the sadness in her eyes when Gabriel makes a comment about his mediocre performance with the piano, about his dropping grades or about the weight he has gained. 

It’s not a pity feeling, he knows that. No, it’s the frustration of not being able to do more than bring him his meals, communicate him his schedule or dictate him the orders of his father.

She has even become more flexible during summer. All these times he had sneaked out and returned way too late to be authorized. All these times he and Marinette had slipped into his bedroom or in one of the gym rooms of the mansion. All these times they had been way too loud to be unheard. During all these getaways, there _had_ to be at least one time when Nathalie had seen him slip into his room, an afternoon when she had seen Marinette sneak into one of the several service entrances or an evening where she had heard a laugh a little too loud, a moan a little too intense. 

It’s the laws of probability.

The fact remains that she has said nothing. She hasn’t reprimanded him, as though she wanted to let him enjoy this summer of freedom.

And Adrien is infinitely grateful to her.

Even though these two months have probably been the best of his life, he couldn’t—and still can’t—prevent himself from thinking about Ladybug. But he doesn’t think about her as frequently as he did a few years ago. Yes, her face appears in his mind when he’s falling asleep sometimes—often, maybe. And yes, he feels the need to listen carefully when her name is brought up in a conversion.

But the laugh which haunts his thoughts, the eyes which make his heart beat and the body which raises his temperature are all Marinette’s. And he’s feeling guilty for not thinking about Ladybug as often as before.

Despite everything, he still feels like it’s in his DNA, like it’ll never go away. That loving her is something he’ll never escape. 

So, he’s torn. _Completely_ torn between his passionate and blind love for Paris’ heroine and his increasing affection for Marinette. Torn between love at first sight and love which grows over the years. His heart is ripped and these two raven-haired and blue-eyed girls each have a part.

He has done his best to not think about it. He has buried deep down inside him this betrayal feeling towards Marinette, this cheating feeling towards Ladybug, this lying feeling towards himself. 

But today, when he’s running over Paris’ roofs to fight Hawk Moth all over again, everything he has buried for months is dangerously coming back to the surface.

He’s about to see Ladybug again.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The akuma seems to be particularly angry. Paris’ streets are full of crying children, frightened teenagers and yelling adults. A little boy is desperately offering his hand to the one who is, in all probability, his friend. But he’s incapable to get closer to him, like an invisible force is keeping them apart. Like two magnets getting nearer.

Chat Noir lands on top of a building and looks everywhere around him, in hopes of spotting the supervillain. He’s coming up short when the hypersensitivity of his suit indicates to him that someone has just joined him.

Chat Noir takes a deep breath and turns towards Ladybug who is smiling at him. _This_ smile. This smile which is making his heart beat faster in his chest and he can’t help but smile, too.

“Hi, kitty,” she says, getting closer to him.

“Milady,” he answers.

Now next to him, she puts her hands on the low wall which is surrounding the borders of the roof and bends over to look at what is happening in the streets.

Chat Noir can’t avoid his gaze running along her body. Her suit has changed over the years. Now, it’s black on her knees and all behind her legs to the top of her thighs. The black pattern stops just under her butt—he can’t help but look at it for a second—and continues to her waist, shaping a belt all around it, making the red string of her yo-yo even more apparent. Her mask is surrounded by a black border which is emphasizing the deep blue of her eyes even more.

She explained to him once that suits can change at the same time as the ones who are wearing them. And he believes that all these black touches are, indeed, in line with her evolution. For all those years, they have to fight way more complicated akumas and aren’t counting the times where they’ve almost been defeated. 

That, and the fact that Ladybug has been the Guardian for more than three years. She doesn’t like to talk about all her sacrifices and everything that comes with it, but he has noticed that she smiles less often, she teases him less than before and that she always seems tired.

But today, she seems to be different. Although he can still see worry in her eyes, she’s _glowing_. Her body seems to be more calm than it was at the beginning of summer, her shoulders more relaxed, her eyebrows less furrowed.

“You look good,” he honestly says.

Ladybug turns her smiling face towards him and shrugs one shoulder. “I had a great summer.”

“I expect details,” he responds, laying against the border of the roof.

Ladybug answers him with a chuckle and turns her attention on the street. “When we’ll have stopped this akuma, maybe,” she says, looking up and down. “We need a better point of view to know where he is,” she adds, turning towards him.

“Your wish is my command.” And he grabs his baton. He stabilizes it in no time and catches Ladybug before she even has time to furrow her eyebrows. One arm around her waist, the other held around his baton, Chat Noir feels a shiver run along his back.

This closeness with Ladybug, it’s normal, it’s familiar, it’s something he’s been used to for years. He has wrapped his arm around her waist hundreds of times before. The softness of her suit, the rigidity of her muscles, the warmth of her presence, they’re not discoveries.

But a strange feeling overwhelms him when his body presses to hers. It’s familiar, yes. But it’s _too_ familiar. The way his arms perfectly fit on the hollow of her waist, the curve of her hips, the firmness of her abs, he feels like he has never left this physical contact. Like he has never left her skin, like he has never left her _body_.

He’s close, so close to an ultimate realisation. He can feel it, he can feel his brain getting closer to the answer. Two elements are connecting, they’re about to crash into each other…

And, _nothing_. The more he tries to remember what has just brushed his mind, the more this thought is drawing away from him, until it becomes nothing at all.

“Over here!” Ladybug exclaims, her arm wrapped around his neck.

She’s sitting on his thigh, stabilized by his arm. Chat Noir is holding his baton between his feet and is keeping his left hand on it. Ladybug’s weight is close to nothing on his leg and his strength is heightened when he’s Chat Noir, which is making this posture way easier to hold than it seems.

Ladybug doesn’t seem to realize what has just happened in his head in these last thirty seconds. And he’s relieved about it. “Ready?”

A light chuckle answers him and he feels his lips straighten up on their own. “Do you even know who you’re talking to?”

He turns his face towards her and he’s hit by the closeness of her gaze. Have her eyes always been so blue?

His hand is still on her waist and he can’t help his fingers pressing against her suit. Ladybug’s breath cut and her eyes close for an instant. “We should go,” she whispers.

And when her eyelids open again, all trace of trouble has left her gaze. She grabs her yo-yo and throws herself in the air, leaning on his shoulder. 

Chat Noir takes a deep breath and hurries in her wake.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

They don’t take more than an hour to defeat the villain. Chat Noir is convinced that they could have reduced this time by half if they hadn’t spent so much time without using their powers.

Oh, of course, they have transformed during summer. But it has been a matter of a few patrols per week, nothing more.

The last akuma they fought before; Chat Noir can perfectly remember that day. It happened the day of his birthday, the day of the holidays and the day when Marinette and him eventually yielded to the urges which had been giving them a hard time for months. He cannot forget the difficulty of the akuma and the time they took to defeat him.

Today is way different.

“Pound it!” they say at the same time.

Chat Noir bumps his fist against Ladybug’s and watches her purify the akuma and restore the balance. Even after having seen the process thousands and thousands of times, it’s always incredible.

“What happened?”

The supervillain is a teenage boy laid low by his feelings again. Ladybug kneels next to him on top of a building and smiles with leniency. “You have been akumatized.”

A flash of panic draws in his eyes.

“But everything’s fine,” Chat Noir sums up, kneeling down too. “Everything’s back to normal.”

“I’m so sorry, I—I’ve…” He swallows and looks down, ashamed. “I’m not in my class’ friends and I don’t know anybody, so…”

Chat Noir put his hand on his shoulder, a rush of affection leading his moves. “You know, the first time I went to school, I didn’t know anybody, either. And now I’ve got these incredible friends.”

The young teenager raises his big brown eyes to him. “But now everybody is going to make fun of me because I’ve been akumatized.”

“There’s no reason for it. Precisely, you’re yourself again, aren’t you? It's proof of courage. And, if someone annoys you, you can say you’re friends with Chat Noir, alright?”

A smile lightens his face and Chat Noir gently squeezes his shoulder before standing up. “Come on,” he says, raising his hand.

They walk the teenager on terra firma, ensure that everything is back in order, answer a few questions and then they’re on the roof of a building again. The sun is shining high in the sky, dispersing the warm ending summer rays.

“It’s nice, what you did,” Ladybug says, smiling.

Chat Noir smiles back, nodding. “So,” he begins by getting closer to her. “How did you summer go?”

She shrugs her shoulders innocently, cheeks slightly red.

“Oh-oh!” he shouts out. “What’s his name?”

Ladybug automatically loses her smile and passes from a pinkish complexion to a crimson face in one second, which amused Chat Noir way too much. “What’s her name, then?” he asks.

Her lips straighten up again. “How can you be so sure? What if I just spent the summer on the beach? Or with friends? Or—”

“It shows, _Bugaboo_. Believe me.”

He cosily leans against a chimney, arms crossed. He’s _delighting_ himself in her always redder cheeks and her loss of composure. “So, how did it go?”

“ _Chat_!”

“So, it was good.”

A grumble answers him.

“ _Wow_ , it was really good.”

“I’m going to murder you. I’m going to murder you and make it look like an accident.”

“Oh, c’mon,” he answers, laughing. “A personal detail for another one, is that okay?”

She looks at him, her eyes creased. “Alright, but you begin.”

He noods, wets his lips and thinks for a moment. “I had a _great_ summer, too.”

“Oh-oh!” she repeats.

“Your turn.”

The lips pinched, she gets slightly closer to him. “It was the first time,” she says, looking up at him.

“And it happened only once?”

Ladybug shakes her head.

“Five?”

She shakes her head again.

“More than twenty?”

She noods and he can’t help but laugh.

“Hey! I have needs, okay?”

“I can see that, yeah,” he answers, still laughing.

She gently hits his shoulder. “Sorry, sorry.”

“And what about you? Did it happen more than once?”

“Mmm…”

“How many times?”

He puts his head against the concrete and bites his lips to hide his smile. “A number between ten and a hundred?”

She bursts out laughing and shakes her head. “They grow up so fast!”

“If only you knew,” he answers. 

He guesses her eyebrow raised under her mask.

“And I’m not gonna say more,” he says, putting his hands up.

“And I’m thanking you.”

Their gazes are anchored in each other, their lips pinched. And when Ladybug’s Miraculous begins to beep, they stay face to face. “You know,” he says, “if you need to talk about this, don’t hesitate. I can listen, you know.”

“Yes,” she answers. “I know. And you too, if you need a feminine point of view on the question.”

He can feel his smile grow bigger. “Are you insinuating I need advice?”

She shrugs. “They always need advice.”

“Even your boyfriend?” He can’t help but look down at her lips when she slightly bit them.

“No, I chose him well.”

A new beep. Chat Noir’s, this time. “We should go,” he says.

Ladybug grabs her yo-yo and moves away from him.

“Milady?”

She turns around after throwing her yo-yo. 

“I’m really happy for you, you know.”

A smile draws on her lips again. “Me too, kitty. I hope she knows how lucky she is.”

Something glows deep down her blue eyes, something he doesn’t have the time to really identify because she sets off in the air the second after.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Adrien reaches his high school and quickly catches up with Marinette, Alya and Nino.

“Is everything okay?” Marinette asks.

He nods and smiles at her. “Yeah, I think we have been split up because of the stampede.”

“Ladybug did really great today,” Alya exclaims, texting on her phone. 

Adrien sees Marinette stand on her tiptoes to look at Alya’s screen. 

“She and Chat Noir seem to be happy to be together again,” Nino says, his gaze lingering on the pictures too.

“They seem more than just _happy_ , if you ask me,” Alya laughs.

Marinette raises her eyes to heaven, and Adrien can’t help but smile.

“They’re partners, it’s normal.”

“They’re as much _partners_ as you and Adrien are _friends_ ,” Alya assures.

This time, Marinette doesn’t hide her outrage and Adrien has a lot of trouble to keep his amusement to himself. Nino kindly dishevels Marinette’s hair and puts an arm around her shoulders.

“C’mon, a little smile, Mari.”

But she keeps pouting which Adrien finds particularly cute. 

“Adrien, we need help over here,” Nino demands.

Without needing more instructions, Adrien gets closer to Marinette and runs his fingers along her stomach, goes back her ribs, tickles a particular spot he knows is very sensitive. 

“I’m almost there,” he says, his fingers sliding along her sides.

The second after, she bursts out laughing and Adrien triumphantly raises his hands. “Here it is!”

“You know,” Alya declares, putting her phone in her pocket, “From here, it’s _really_ weird.”

Adrien looks down at Marinette when she looks up at him and he quickly meets her in her laugh.

“I’m a little bit turned on,” Marinette whispers to him.

“You’re _unbearable_ ,” Alya complains.

" _Insatiable_ ," Nino adds.

“Completely _obsessed_.”

Adrien looks at Marinette again, lips pinched, and they can’t help but laugh again.

  
  


• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Classes end before noon. It’s the first day, so it’s not strictly speaking classes, but rather a general presentation of their senior year. With all the blathering and usual information.

So, Adrien, Marinette, Alya and Nino come to an agreement to spend the beginning of the afternoon at Marinette’s. They know their schedules are going to get more packed and that meeting all together for more than thirty minutes is going to soon become very complicated. So they prefer to enjoy it when they still can. 

“Marinette, can I ask you something?” Nino asks after having swallowed a mouthful of his sandwich.

Adrien turns his face to her and can’t repress a smile by seeing her expression. She nods, half-curious, half-worried. 

“Your parents,” he says, frowning his eyebrows, “do they know who Adrien is?”

Backing onto Marinette’s couch, just next to her, Adrien keeps looking at her, interested in the question.

“Everybody knows who he is,” she answers, shyly crunching in her sandwich. 

Alya, sitting on her desk chair, muffles a chuckle. 

“Oh,” Marinette ads, a sparkle of understanding in her eyes. “ _Oh_.”

Adrien feels his smile grow by seeing her blushing cheeks.

“Well… That is… I mean I don’t... I don’t know?” she says, nervously playing with the lettuce pieces which are escaping from her sandwich. 

“You mean that they never ask you anything?”

Marinette shakes her head and Adrien can’t hide his surprise. “ _Never_?” he asks.

She looks up and meets his gaze. “No, never.”

Adrien loses himself in the cerulean blue of her eyes which almost perfectly match with the color of the dress she’s wearing.

“They surely suspect something,” Alya says. “Especially if you look at each other like _that_ when they’re in the same room.”

Marinette breaks their eye contact in one second and Adrien can’t help but chuckle. She’s _really_ cute.

“Of course they suspect something,” Marinette pronounces. “But they’re waiting for me to broach the subject myself, I guess. They don’t want to make me uncomfortable or to make me talk about something I don’t want to.”

“Your parents are amazing,” Nino says.

Adrien fully agrees. He can’t imagine, even for one second, his father cares about his feelings, cares about his way of reacting. Cares at all, actually. 

“I know,” Marinette responds with a smile. 

She bites into her sandwich again and Adrien realizes he hasn’t even touched his. He knows it’s delicious: it’s from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. 

“And how do you deal with your parents?” Marinette asks.

Alya shrugs her shoulders. "Officially, ban on staying in my room with the door closed, and ban on sleep over—expect on the couch on week-ends”

Adrien smiles. “And unofficially?”

“Oh, you know, I live only on the first floor...” Alya answers, looking meaningfully at Nino.

Marinette’s laugh sounds at his ears and he quickly joins her. 

“And you, how is it going with your—”

“I didn’t tell you what Lila told me earlier!” Marinette cuts Nino off with a cheerful voice. 

Adrien feels a relief flash overwhelm him. He knows her enthusiasm is overacted and that she cut Nino off only to not bring up his father. 

His hand automatically goes on her thigh, gently squeezing her skin for a few seconds, quietly thanking her for her intervention.

Thankfully, Nino doesn’t seem to be offended by being interrupted. He seems, on the contrary, very interested in her story.

So, she relates what Lila told them a few hours ago. She imitates her voice, playing the scene parodically, collecting a few chuckles.

“Can you believe that, seriously? Pretending to not have recognized, me, it’s really—”

“I don’t think she was pretending,” Nino says.

Adrien agrees with him: Lila seemed really surprised. Of course, her acting skills need no explanation, but this time, her astonishment didn’t seem illusory to him.

“Why?” Marinette asks, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Er… It’s that… you… _well…_ ”

Adrien feels a smile tickle his lips. He knows exactly what Nino’s point is.

“You did change a _lot_ , Mari,” Alya speaks.

“Well, so did you,” she responds, shrugging her shoulders. “But she recognized Adrien.”

Alya shakes her head and crumples the paper of her sandwich which is now completely eaten. "No, no. We _grew_ , you _changed_.”

Her eyes creased, Marinette opens her mouth, but changes her mind at the last second.

“Come on! Look at you!” Alya keeps going.

She seems completely lost now.

“Nino gained four inches—let’s not talk about Adrien—and my body changed and we all learned how to dress—thank God.”

Nino has his eyes fixed on the floor and Adrien is now thinking that his nails are a very interesting part of his body.

“I think Goldilocks right here knows _exactly_ what I’m talking about.”

His eyelids instantly close. He eventually looks up and realizes that all their gazes are fixed on him: Alya’s amused one, Nino’s sorry one and Marinette’s confused one.

He lets his head fall against the couch and nervously pats his knees. “It’s that… you dress more… _you know_ ? You wear more makeup, you do your hair differently, and you… your…” He clears his throat and turns his face towards Marinette. “Your _body_?”

Two muffled chuckles answer to him and he can’t help but roll his eyes. “How old are you? Twelve? Marinette’s right: we’ve all changed, more or less,” he says.

“Yeah, but Marinette became really hot,” Alya affirms, stretching her arms.

Adrien looks at Marinette again and he’s surprised to not detect any embarrassment on her face. No, she’s smiling.

“She’s right,” he discreetly whispers in her ear.

This time, her cheeks become slightly pinker and Adrien feels his body temperature increase a bit. 

“Thanks—I guess—but could we stop talking about the way my body has grown? It’s becoming a little bit awkward,” she says, still smiling.

“It’s true,” Alya answers. “Up to you to talk about it in private, but,” she quickly adds when Marinette begins to grumble, “we have to talk about something.”

Adrien has a lot of trouble focusing on something other than Marinette. On her smooth and glowy skin, on the curve of her eyelashes extended by the mascara she’s wearing, on her gaze, set on Alya, on the curve of her nose he’s dreaming to kiss. Her freckles beautifully stud on her face, emphasized by the two sunny months which have just ended. His eyes drift along her face, admiring her lips, the way her upper ones are a tiny bit thicker than her lower ones.

His heart skips a beat when her tongue runs over her lips, leaving a bright trail on them.

His gaze keeps going down, examining the delicacy of her jaw, the fineness of her neck, the freckles which keep running on her upper chest. Her dress falls low enough for him to see the beginning of her breasts which are rising at the pace of her breathing.

“Your birthday.”

“It’s in two months, Alya,” Marinette says.

The way he’s looking at her is at the limits of restraint, so he focuses on the discussion and, for lack of putting his eyes on her, he puts his hand. Her thigh is smooth, and he can feel her skin directly on his.

“Exactly, it’s soon! It’s your eighteen birthday, Mari, it has to be _memorable_.”

His birthday has been memorable. 

Marinette crosses her legs and Adrien lets his hand run to her knee. 

“We have to find a place, make a guest list, know what to buy, what to wear, it’s a big deal, you know.”

“I know, I threw Adrien’s birthday party."

His name on her lips makes him shiver. 

“Yeah, but we were only ten people.”

“And we’ll not be more for mine.”

“Oh, c’mon, please! Let me throw you a real party! You won’t have to do anything, just be here at the right day, at the right time and with a dress, if possible.”

Marinette lets out a sigh and Adrien doesn’t need to look at her to know that she’s smiling.

“I can’t escape it, can I?”

“No, there’s no way,” Nino says.

“Well, alright. But,” she hurriedly adds when Alya already begins to exult, “no more than twenty guests, okay? And not too much alcohol, and no…”

Alya raises an eyebrow, the arms crossed.

“Alright, I’ll let you do it.”

“You’ll see, it’ll be _great_! You’ll have as much fun at your birthday as Adrien had at his.”

“You’ll have a really great time, then,”Nino goes one further.

“Thanks, guys,” Adrien says, rolling his eyes. He can’t help but smirk, and Marinette begins to laugh next to him. His fingers are innocently wandering at the bottom of her thigh, low enough for it to be appropriate when Alya and Nino are in the same room, but intent enough for her to _feel_ that they’re the only reason he’s not going higher. 

The afternoon passes in a joyous and relaxed atmosphere. Alya and Nino keep teasing Adrien and Marinette who keep sighing and smiling at the same time.

Discussions come one after another, going from Marinette’s birthday to Alya’s holidays, lingering on the fact that Marinette’s parents are really super understanding. 

“But how did you manage to go all summer without being caught?”

Adrien, a knee brought against his chest and his hand still settled on Marinette’s leg, turns his gaze towards her.

He understands what Alya means. Showing questionable discretion is way different than not even trying to hide themselves.

Maybe they’re pretty tactless and maybe they’ve been way louder than they thought. And maybe that the homework excuse isn’t valid during summer vacation. _Maybe_.

But they’ve the merit of at least trying.

“I made him enter through the service door,” Marinette explains, her eyes fixed on his hand settled on her thigh.

“What about you?”

Adrien looks up at Nino. “I have a ton of secret doors at home.”

“I think the number of secret doors is proportional to the surface of the place. I just have a bookcase which opens itself, that’s all,” Alya says.

They begin to laugh all together and Adrien shakes his head.

“I gotta go,” Nino announces after a while. “I have to be at home before four,” he explains, standing up.

Adrien looks at the screen of his phone and sighs, seeing that it’s already past three thirty. Nathalie has asked him to be back by five, but he knows that his father has returned from his trip earlier today.

The wiser option would probably be to go home now. 

“You have to go, too?” Marinette asks him.

Her eyes are looking at him with care. Without being able—without wanting, either—to help himself, Adrien gazes at her lips for a second. “No,” he answers with a voice huskier than he expected. “No, I can stay a little longer.”

Wiser, yes, but less fun. Marinette responds to him with a smile which reveals the slight dimples hollowing her cheeks, and he knows he’s making the right choice.

An hour with her is fully worth being reprimanded by his father.

“I’ll let you twos,” Alya says, “I have to go, too.”

She joins Nino, and Marinette stands up to see them out. Her skin slides against his hand and Adrien closes his eyes for an instant. It’s so _smooth_.

A minute later and Marinette is sitting next to him again. The room is muted by the absence of their friends and Adrien’s heart begins to beat way too loudly in his chest.

An atmosphere of expectation, of eagerness and of desire is floating between them.

“You—”

Marinette barely has the time to say one word that Adrien falls upon her in a heartbeat. His hand settles on her leg again and doesn’t limit itself to her knee. This time, his fingers end up in playing with the end of her dress, slightly sliding underneath before going down again.

Marinette kisses him back almost automatically, putting her hands on his shoulders and pressing her lips on his.

His hand definitely disappears under her dress and a throaty moan answers him. Marinette drags herself on him, ending up in his lap, her lips devouring his with an ardor which makes him shiver. 

“I’ve been dreaming of doing this since this morning,” he whispers before putting his lips against her neck.

She brings her hips closer to his in response and Adrien feels his skin ignite. His fingers run along her thigh, drifting to the inside and Marinette’s hands close on his shoulders when he reaches her panties. 

The warmth of her core is detectable even through the fabric and Adrien moves his face back to plunge his eyes into hers. Her mouth opens when he moves her underwear aside, directly putting a finger between her thigh.

Marinette lets her head fall against his shoulder. “Look at me,” he whispers at the hollow of her ear. 

A shiver travels his body when she sits up again. Her face is only a few inches from his. He can count the number of freckles which sprinkle her nose, admire the red nuances with which her cheeks are decorated, and can lose himself in her gaze, darkened by the desire. “Do you want this?”

It seems pretty obvious, according to the language of her body, but nothing can express a real consent except words. 

Marinette nods her head. “I need words, Mari,” he whispers with a voice huskier than usual.

“Yes,” she quickly says. “Yes, I want this.”

Without waiting more, Adrien pushes his fingers against her and his middle and forefinger end up inside her. 

Marinette gasps loudly by instinctively grinding against his hand. He can’t help but let a smile straightens his lips while he begins a slow back and forth movement with his fingers. 

Then, the discussion of this morning crosses his mind, when he has found its way into Nino and Marinette’s call—under his orders, of course. The way she has confessed to him how much it’s _amazing_.

A moan louder than the others tears him away from his thoughts. “Did I hurt you?” he asks, short-winded. 

“No, you— _No_.”

He raises an eyebrow, slowing down the pace of his fingers. “Mari, we already talked about this, you have to tell me if—”

His sentence is interrupted by a frustrated groan. “You didn’t hurt me,” she articulates between two halting breaths. “It’s quite the opposite.”

He furrows his eyebrows and Marinette mumbles openly this time, which amuses him a lot. “Use words. _Words_.”

She rolls her eyes and nervously licks her lips. “I need you to… to… _harder_.”

Her eyes are looking at him with such desire, such want that Adrien thinks he’s going to burn right away. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen and he appreciably increases the pace of his fingers, smirking.

Marinette, surprised, doesn’t have the time to hold back the scream which escapes from her lips and Adrien adds a third finger even before she has the time to breathe again.

“You perfectly knew what I wanted,” she says, noticing his smile.

“Of course I knew,” he answers, always sinking his fingers deeper inside her.

“I hate you,” she whispers, meeting his fingers with her hips.

Adrien puts his thumb on her clit and a second scream sounds at his ears. He doesn’t know it’s possible that he can literally feel himself burn from the inside because of a sound but _damn him_ if he doesn’t want to hear it again. 

A moan passes the boundary of his lips when Marinette kisses him. ”I thought you hated me,” he whispers. 

“Mmm,” she answers before sliding her tongue between his lips.

He wants to respond, but she doesn’t let him. Her hand runs along his chest and settles on the buckle of his belt which she undoes in no time at all. The resonance of her moaning sounds against his mouth when he curves his fingers upward. 

Marinette’s fingers quickly end up inside his underwear and Adrien removes his lips from hers, looking for oxygen. “Mari,” he whispers, almost desperately. 

“I need words, too.”

He lets the back of his head fall against the back of the couch and tries to regulate his breath—in vain. “Yes,” he simply says, softly brushing her clit.

The mix of her moan and of the hand put on him make him close his eyes. Marinette doesn’t play the same game than he did earlier—thankfully for him—and directly begins quick and confident back and forth movements.

The pressure of her fingers and the warmth of her core are close to paradise. The rhythm of her wrist increases again and he opens his eyes, unable to stop himself to moan at seeing her sitting on top of him.

She’s so _beautiful_. 

He instinctively puts his lips on her jaw, goes down along her neck, ends up on her chest and kisses the top of her breast. 

“Oh _shit_ , Adrien”, she whispers against him.

His fingers go deeper and he slightly increases the pressure of his thumb against her clit and Marinette increases the pressure of her hand around him, too. They gasp together. 

His hand settles against her ribcage, he slightly slides her dresses until revealing her breasts. Without waiting a second, he puts his tongue against her nipple and a new scream sounds in his ears.

While he can feel her becoming tighter around him and that he feels himself come closer to his release, his phone rings. 

Marinette jumps and Adrien releases her nipple in a loud pop. He looks up at Marinette’s reddened and sweating face. With a shaking hand, he grabs his phone in the back pocket of his pants and brings it to his ear, without ever stopping to look at Marinette and to move his fingers. 

“Hello?” His voice is way too throaty. 

“Adrien? You have to come home now. Your father demands it.”

He can’t help but sigh. But the apprehension to confront his father is offset by the feeling of Marinette’s hand on him. 

A smirk appears on his lips. “I’m on my way.”

If he could have hidden what he was doing before, this time, he knows he’s not deceiving anyone. 

“Make it quick.”

He hangs up and hastily puts his phone away. “I have to go,” he says.

“Now?”

“I have something to finish first,” he whispers, putting his lips on her cheek.

He feels Marinette smirking and intensifies the movement of his fingers away. His mouth runs along her face and until her breasts again which he covers with wet kisses.

Her smell—a mix between almond and vanilla—makes him sigh against her skin. 

Marinette’s hand becomes quicker and quicker, her fingers faster and faster, and so do his lips. A grinding later and Marinette powerfully contracts around him.

At the same time, her hand squeezes his crotch and he lets his forehead against her breasts, letting himself go into the pleasure wave which overwhelms him.

He can feel Marinette’s orgasm run along his finger when he sits up and looks at her again. 

All of a sudden, this morning scene with Adam plays again in his mind. The way he looked at her, the way he brushed past her. And Adrien is deeply convinced that he’s going to spend the year fantasizing about her, to dream of being in his place—without ever knowing that Adrien has already been there. 

He has Marinette’s consent. He has had the occasion to look at her body, to kiss the most intimate places of her body, to know—and to respond to—her desires. He has his fingers inside her. He has just given her an orgasm. He’s the one she’s looking at like _this_.

Him, not Adam, not anyone else.

Him.

Whether it stops tomorrow or it lasts for years, the present moment will stay what it is. 

With a shaky hand, Adrien gently removes her hair from her face, putting a lock behind her ear. He removes his fingers from between her thighs, replaces her underwear, adjusts her dress and settles his two hands against her waist. 

“Well, that was hot,” she says.

“Yeah,” he laughs.

Marinette laughs back and seems to hesitate, but she eventually puts her lips on his. Adrien intensifies the pressure of his hands against her waist, kissing her back.

They regretfully pull apart and quickly clean themselves. Marinette clumsily stands up and has to grab onto a beam to not fall. “Don’t laugh,” she says, getting her balance back. 

“I’m not laughing,” he answers, putting his belt on again. 

Marinette’s gaze drifts to his crotch for a second and Adrien doesn’t miss a thing. He raises an eyebrow when she focuses on his eyes again. “Second round, _princess_?”

The nickname slips from his mouth but he doesn’t have the time to regret it: Marinette begins to smile.

“Aren’t you supposed to go?”

He stands up, gets close to her and gently raises her chin. “I can be quick.”

“I know,” she whispers. 

“But I really have to go.”

“I know.”

He lets out a sigh when he moves away from her again. 

“See you tomorrow,” she says.

“See you tomorrow,” he answers, gently booping her nose.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Adrien pushes the huge door of the mansion, sighing. The tense atmosphere hits him right away. Even if he already knows it, he can _feel_ that his father is back.

Nathalie welcomes him immediately and her anxious expression calls him out. She’s not the kind to be disconcerted. 

“You told me you were on your way.”

“What’s going on?” he asks, getting closer to her.

Nathalie looks nervously around her before bending over Adrien. With her high-heels, she’s almost as tall as him.

It’s rare that he doesn’t need to lower his eyes to talk to someone. The only person with whom he doesn’t need to is his father.

“Let me be frank, Adrien.” He nods and she takes a deep breath. “I know something is going on with your friend. Mari…?”

“Marinette,” he answers after a few seconds.

“Marinette. I don’t pretend to know the nature of your relationship, but I do know that your father wouldn’t approve it. But he’s far from being stupid, Adrien. He knows something is up. And if he knows it after being back for only six _hours_ , I let you imagine what he’s going to conclude in six _days_.”

Adrien feels his heart jump at each new beat.

“You have to stop this,” she says. “Before trouble starts.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” he answers. 

“Adrien, you know as much as I do how much your father is committed to your protection, and—”

He can’t retain a laugh. “My protection, _right._ ”

“Adrien…”

“Thank you, Nathalie. Thank you for this summer, thank you for warning me, _thank you_. But I’m not going to stop seeing Marinette. My father has no proof and he’s not going to get any.”

“You are well aware that he doesn’t need proof.”

Adrien looks down for a moment before putting his hand on her shoulder. “I have to go.”

And he heads towards his father’s office. 

“Come in,” answers the cold voice of his father after he has knocked. 

“Father,” Adrien welcomes him once in his office.

“Sit down.”

Paperwork has accumulated on his desk during summer. It’s strange to see his office in such a state. 

Sat in front of him, the fingers settled under his chin, his father has his gaze fixed on him. “Could you explain to me where you were?”

His voice is quiet, as freezing as an ice cube. “At a friend’s.”

“At a _girl_ friend’s,” Gabriel corrects him.

“There has been an akuma attack,” he continues without considering his father’s remark, “so we ended up classes later than expected. So we thought that we could eat together, the four of us, and—”

“I thought you were at _a_ friend’s.”

He hates this. He hates his father’s way of dissecting his words, his way of making him say things he didn’t mean to, his way of manipulating him to get what he wants.

“Yes, but we weren’t alone.”

“Don’t do this, Adrien.”

He doesn’t answer. A lump begins to shape in his throat.

“Don’t lie to me. I’m not stupid.”

“I know,” he obliges himself to answer.

“So, let’s see if I get this straight: you ate I don’t know what, with I don’t know who, and you did I don’t know what all afternoon.”

“I—”

“Not all afternoon. All _summer_ ,” Gabriel cuts him off.

“No, it’s—”

“As long as no one finds out, you do what you want.”

His words die in his mouth. He expected everything. Absolutely everything. But not this.

However, he knows his father. He knows his way of working. And he’s not going to fully confess his relationship with Marinette only because his father has said that he’s okay with it.

For all he knows, it could be a trick to make him admit.

So, he says nothing.

“I understand that you have some needs. It’s natural.”

‘What?’ he thinks. ‘What, what, what, what—’

“If you choose this girl to satisfy them, so be it. I’m not going to intervene on it.

‘ _What_?’

“My only condition is your discretion. You can do what the hell you want as long as it doesn’t spread. I wouldn’t want your reputation to be ruined.”

A disgusted feeling insinuates in his veins. 

“She’ll get her price, whatever it is. Ask her how much she wants to keep it secret.”

It’s a nightmare. A nightmare from which he’s going to wake up soon. He’s going to wake up and Marinette will be right next to him, her face on his chest, her hair brushing his nose, her hand on his stomach. 

He’s going to wake up, and all this discussion will not have existed. 

But he doesn’t wake up.

He doesn’t wake up and his father is still in front of him. It’s not a nightmare and his father has really just called Marinette a whore right in front of him.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you liked this chapter!  
> I can't wait to read your comments!  
> The next chapter is already written, now I have to translate it. So, I'll try to publish it in one week, to let myself the time to write the next one to be ahead.  
> I didn't add a playlist this time because I wanted to publish the chapter today but let me know if you like it or if it's completely useless because it takes a lot of time to do it. Or if you'd prefer me to just add it in the beginning?  
> Anyways, get ready for the next chapter and let me know what you thought of this one! Have a nice day :)  
> P.S: I know Adrien's birthday is around September but it's easier for me if he's born around July, so he'll be a little Cancer here :p  
> P.S 2: about the fact that their Miraculous begin to beep later after they've used their power, I'll explain this on the next chapters!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the fourth chapter, but here it is!
> 
> It's more of a transition chapter, but pretty importants things happen here, so pay attention!
> 
> Thank you for all your reviews and everything, it really means the world to me! ♥︎

_Bzz!_

Marinette bluntly opens her eyes and gropes for her phone. She rubs her eyelids, lowering the brightness of her screen as much as possible. 

Adrien 💕  
  
**Character A:** are you asleep?  
  


Marinette furrows her eyebrows. He’s not the kind to bother her in the middle of the night.

Adrien 💕  
  
**Character A:** no  
  
**Character A:** what's going on?  
  
Adrien 💕 is typing...

Marinette’s attentively waiting for his answer. Her curiosity is awake. 

Adrien 💕  
  
**Character A:** my father is home  
  
Adrien 💕 is typing... **Character A:** he asked for me  
  
Adrien 💕 is typing... **Character A:** he asked me what was I doing  
  
Adrien 💕 is typing... **Character A:** he knows, Mari  
  


Marinette feels her heart looping in her chest. She sits up, blowing the air in her face away. 

Adrien 💕  
  
**Character B:** you're sure?  
  
Adrien 💕 is typing... **Character A:** yes  
  
**Character B:** what did he tell you?  
  
Adrien 💕 is typing... **Character A:** can I call you?  
  
**Character B:** of course  
  


She picks up so fast that the ringing of her phone doesn’t have the time to sound. “So? What did he tell you?” she whispers.

She can hear that Adrien is breathless. 

“Adrien?”

“I hate him, Mari. I _hate_ him.”

Her throat and her heart tighten at the same time. “Oh, Adrien…”

“It’s not a teenage whim or something I’m only saying in the grip of anger. I hate him. I really do. I—”

His voice breaks and Marinette completely sats up. Her heart is beating so strongly in her chest that she can feel her pulse resonate in her temples. “Adrien, breathe, okay? Breathe and explain it to me. It’s gonna be okay.”

An inhalation answers her. And an exhalation. And then a new inhalation. Marinette nods. 

“He asked me where I was, so I told him I was at a friend’s. And someone—from the staff or I don’t know— must have told him because he directly understood that it was going on since this summer. I tried to explain him but he didn’t let me talk and—”

His voice breaks again and Marinette hears him take a new breath. She does the same thing.

“And he told me that as long as nobody finds out, I can do what I want.”

Her eyebrows furrow right away. However, she says nothing, she wants to let him finish first. 

“I didn’t get it, I thought he wanted to make me say something, so I didn’t say anything and he— he says that he understood that I have some _needs_ and—”

She can hear the anger in his voice, she can hear how much he’s keeping it to himself to stay calm.

“He said that the only condition is for us to be discreet. That we can do what we want as long as nobody knows it, so my— my _reputation_ isn’t ruined.”

Marinette closes her eyelids. She knows exactly what his point is. 

“And then he— he— he has—” New breath in. “He said that you’ll get your price, whatever it is. To keep it secret.”

Her eyes open again. Marinette painfully swallows and wets her dried lips. 

“I’m sorry, I’m _so_ sorry, I—”

“It’s not your fault, okay?”

“I didn’t say _anything_ . I just left. He called you a— and I did _nothing_.”

She wants to touch his cheek, to caress his hair, to hug him and tell him that everything is going to be alright. 

“You know as well as I do that you couldn’t have said anything to change his mind.”

“Yes. Yes I could have.”

Marinette shakes her head. 

“It’s gonna be okay, alright? You’re gonna sleep and everything will be better tomorrow. We just have to be very discreet. He’s not gonna notice anything.”

She’s not sure he really heard her. 

“Can I come sleep with you?”

His voice is broken, completely broken. And Marinette feels her heart tear apart, too. “We’re in the middle of the night, it’s not safe, and if somebody see you—”

“ _Please_.”

A tear falls from her eye. She has never heard him talk like that, with such desperation. 

“Yes, yes of course. But be careful, okay?”

“I’m there in ten minutes.”

And ten minutes later, Marinette opens the service entrance and lets Adrien in. They don’t say anything and just climb the stairs as quietly as they can up to her room. Thankfully, it’s only two in the morning so her parents aren’t awake yet. 

Once in her room, Marinette turns towards Adrien. His hair is falling all over his forehead, his white tee-shirt is soaked with sweat and he’s shaking from head to toe. 

“Come here,” she whispers, showing him the bathroom.

He seems even more miserable in the light. Marinette makes him sit on the edge of the bathtub and wets a washcloth that she brushes on his cheeks, his forehead, his neck. 

“Take off your shirt.”

He does so immediately and Marinette puts the soaked clothing away. 

He’s perfect. Utterly perfect. His face is perfectly symmetrical, as thin as the one of a sculpture. His chest is slightly tanned, his pectorals well drawn, his abs incredibly traced. 

A body completely sculpted by his father’s wishes. From the muscles of his back to the ones of his arms, to the length of his hair to the one of his nails. Everything is calculated. 

And if Marinette has always found him beautiful, his beauty has a bitter taste today. 

Her gaze falls to his hands which are shaking more than the rest of his body.

“Give me your hand.”

He doesn’t listen to her.

“Adrien, _please_.”

He nervously raises his arm to her and Marinette feels the lump in her throat double in volume at the sight of his palm.

Four arcs of circles are drawing on his skin, showing that his nails have sunk into it. They’re not deep enough for blood to run but enough for scabs to shape. 

Adrien is looking at the ground and Marinette grabs the washcloth again, without saying anything. She gently cleans the dried blood, although Adrien isn’t moving an inch, like the physical pain is nothing compared to what takes place inside him.

Marinette hardly dares to imagine what he’s thinking. 

“Come on,” she whispers after she has cleaned his other hand. 

Adrien still doesn’t move. But he looks up. His eyes are red, wet, deeply hurt.

Marinette almost bites her lips hard enough to draw blood to retain the sob which is coming in her throat. 

She can handle a lot of things. _A lot_ . She can hold back a lot of tears. _A lot_. But the only times where this restraint seems to be out of reach is when it’s about Adrien. When it comes to him, she doesn’t have any control of her feelings anymore. 

“Thank you,” he whispers.

Incapable of holding his gaze a second longer, Marinette throws herself at him. She puts her hands around him, pressing his head against her chest and swaddling her nose in his hair. It smells like honey. 

Adrien gently rubs his face against her breasts and circles her waist with his hands, getting her closer.

Marinette counts to ten, ten seconds during which she fully enjoys his presence right up against her, during which she lets herself imagine what is going on inside his head. 

She knows his wild desire to protect the people he cares about. But protecting her from the person he’s the most afraid of, Marinette can only suppose the inner war that he’s fighting right now. Plus the fact that his father didn’t give him the possibility to explain himself, to confide. He has only belittled his feelings to the simple level of carnal desire, as if it’s not more complicated than that. As if he does not have to juggle the constant and stifling pressure of his father, the absence of his mother and the secret of his relationship with Marinette.

A rush of anger fills her. Marinette takes a deep breath and moves away. 

Adrien’s hands stay around her waist when she looks down at him. She brushes her hand on his forehead, pulling his hair back, and gently puts her lips on his forehead. Adrien closes his eyes and heightens the pressure of his palms against her waist. 

“Do you need something?” she asks him softly, her hands on his shoulders.

“Only you,” he responds. 

Marinette feels herself shiver. She nods and they make their way back to her room, dragging themselves to her bed without telling anything.

A minute later and they’re laying on their sides, face to face. Adrien’s gaze is empty and Marinette can’t help but look at him. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks him without daring to touch him.

He doesn’t answer. “Adrien?” she calls him after a few seconds. 

His eyes eventually meet hers. “You deserve _so_ _much_ better than this,” he whispers with a hoarse voice.

Now that he’s looking at her, he doesn’t seem to be able to concentrate on anything other than her eyes. 

Marinette swallows, but the lump in her throat just gets worse. She’s mesmerized , unable to talk, unable to move, unable to do anything else than losing herself into his eyes.

“You deserve _everything_ ,” he whispers, settling his hand on her cheek. “You deserve someone who can give you everything. And I can’t do that.”

Her eyebrows furrow but the muscles of her mouth and of her tongue don’t want to obey her. 

“You deserve more than this, Marinette,” he says, getting his face closer to hers. “You deserve a real relationship, where you don’t have to hide yourself.” He nods, as if he’s trying to convince himself. “You deserve better than me.”

This sentence triggers something inside her. A feeling of frustration, anger, sadness and love mixed all together that makes her blood boil in her veins. All her muscles unblock and the first move she does is to sit up. 

Adrien follows her, looking up at her. 

“Don’t do this,” she says, trying to handle the tidal wave of feelings that is rushing at her at full speed. 

He furrows his eyebrows.

“Don’t tell me what’s better for me. I’m old enough to choose for myself. And what’s best for _me_ is what _I_ want.”

“And what do you want?”

She can’t help but roll her eyes. “ _You_ , dummy.”

“But—”

Her finger settles on his lips right away. “Stop torturing yourself like this. It’s exactly what your father wants, I hope you know this?”

Given the way he’s looking at her, he doesn’t know.

“He knows you, Adrien. And he probably knows that by insulting me, you would react like this, and that you would try to protect me by ending what is going on between us. He has a ton of faults, but we can’t say that he’s an idiot.”

“So, you don’t mind?”

“I didn’t tell that,” she says, laying down next to him again. “Of course I mind, Adrien. Let me remind you that I was his total fan from the time I was five years old until sixteen.”

“What happened at sixteen?”

He seems to hang onto Marinette’s every word, hungry to discover what she’s thinking. 

“I realized what he was doing to you.”

His eyebrows furrow and Marinette can almost see the calculations in his head. She feels her lips straighten up into a faint smile. 

“Wait, when we were sixteen, we were in—”

“In tenth grade, yes.”

“And in tenth grade, we—”

“We weren’t that close.”

“But how did you—”

“I was paying attention to… to you.”

His large eyes are staring at her with interest.

“And that’s all I’ll tell you,” she says, her cheeks reddening. 

Her heart inflates with relief in her chest when she sees Adrien’s face light up with a smirk. “It’s cute,” he whispers.

Marinette rolls her eyes, her lips always more straightened up. “Stop smiling like that!” she says.

Of course, he does the completely opposite.

“Argh! You’re so _annoying_!”

She hides her face in her hands. Adrien’s laugh sounds in her ears a second later and she feels his arms around her.

“Come here,” he says, getting her closer to him.

Marinette ends the cheek against his torso and Adrien’s hand on her waist. Laughs become simple smiles again and Marinette let her fingers run lazily along his skin.

“What do you want to do?” he asks after a while.

Marinette takes a deep breath and turns her face towards him, the cheek still settled against his chest. “We have several choices. We can make your father believe that his plan worked and that nothing is going on between us anymore, so we’ll have to be even more cautious than we already were.”

Adrien lets his fingers run along her hair and Marinette feels a shiver brush her spine. “Or you can tell him to go fuck himself.”

A chuckle answers her and Marinette smiles back. 

“I like this idea.”

Adrien seems to hesitate for an instant. “What if we tell him that we’re together, _together_?”

“I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t approve.”

“So?”

Marinette pinches her lips. “If he finds out that we’re still seeing each other and that people find out too, he’ll tell everybody that I’m using you for money or to become famous.”

“And what if people don’t believe him?”

“He’s one of the most well-known men in the fashion industry and one of the most influential,” she says, beginning to count on her fingers. “Not forgetting the tons of associations he’s in, all the books he wrote, all the shows he did, the fact that he’s famous in the entire world, the—”

“I get it, I get it,” Adrien cuts her, catching her hand.

She intertwines her fingers with his.

“So we’re screwed, that’s it?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

Adrien sighs and lets his head fall on the pillow. “ _Great_.”

Marinette pulls herself completely on top of him, until her nose is at only a few inches from his. “It’s gonna be fine, okay? We’ll keep our heads down and your father is going to forget that I even exist.”

Adrien puts his hands on her hips and slightly smiles at her. “I hope you’re right.”

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Marinette is entirely paying attention to her phone. As she’s going through _Twitter_ , her eyes open wide, her eyebrows furrow, her lips half-open. 

@Adrien_Agreste spotted at lycée Henri IV with his friends @Mari.DC, @Alya-Cesaire and @NinoLahiffe! 

A picture of them four is linked to the tweet. We can see Nino just behind Alya, their gazes staring at Adrien and Marinette.

She clicks on “show this thread” and regrets it the second after. 

@Mari.DC is this really a dress to go to highschool? 

> Mind your business 
> 
> She wears what she wants, it’s her body 
> 
> I find her dress beautiful 

I hope Adrien enjoys it, @Mari.DC is so hot!

> No, Adrien isn’t like that!
> 
> I’m sure they’ve already did it 
> 
> You can tell by the way they look at each other!
> 
> Marinette is so lucky! 

@Adrien_Agreste and his friends @Mari.DC, @Alya-Cesaire and @NinoLahiffe spotted in the bakery Tom&Sabine 

This time, it’s a picture of them four entering the bakery. 

@Adrien_Agreste spotted rue Coulaincourt around 4pm 

New shooting of @Adrien_Agreste with Comme des Garçons @COMMEGARCON

@Adrien_Agreste spotted rue de Rivoli 

@Adrien_Agreste announced for the next fencing season with Armand D’Argencourt 

@Adrien_Agreste is so hot!

Honestly, I don’t understand why @Adrien_Agreste is so hyped, he’s so over overrated 

@Adrien_Agreste is in the top 5 of the teens with the most charm according to @melty_fr

@Adrien_Agreste at the centre of attention after the announce of his next campaign with @CalvinKlein

@Adrien_Agreste : in a relationship or single? What are his projects? What does he want to do after highschool? Click to learn more about him!

Marinette puts her phone down, sighing. She doesn’t know what makes her feel more sick: the way she’s spied on in her comings and goings, the way people allow themselves to give their opinions on someone they don’t even know or the comments on her, on her body. She feels observed, surveyed, as if the entire world is waiting for her to make a faux pas. 

A movement draws her from her thoughts. Marinette turns her head and sees Adrien. He’s stretching himself, which makes the muscles of his arms even more visible. His eyes are slightly open and Marinette can’t help a smile spreading on her lips. 

“You’re cute,” she says to him, gently disheveling his hair—which is already completely messy. 

The expression of his face became even more angelic. “What were you reading?”

Marinette suspiciously wrinkles her eyes. “How long have you been watching me?”

“A little while.”

“It’s _weird_.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is,” she responds, laughing.

Adrien sits up and furrows his eyebrows when Marinette gives him a croissant.

“You have a secret power which is making them or what?”

Marinette frankly bursts out laughing. “No, I went down to get food a while ago.”

“How long have you been awake?” he asks, biting into the pastry.

A relieved sigh escapes her. He didn’t eat all his sandwich yesterday and she’s pretty sure he didn’t eat anything the evening before, either. 

“An hour? Maybe more.” He looks at her and she shrugs her shoulders. “I have trouble sleeping sometimes.”

She’s not going to say to him that she experiences insomnia almost every night. She’s not going to tell him that the accumulation of responsibilities and worries and lack of sleep make falling asleep incredibly hard. 

Actually, she slept pretty well last night. Adrien usually makes her gain an extra two hours of sleep. But she’s not going to tell him that either.

“Me, too,” he confesses, taking a new bite. 

Marinette looks at him for a while. Her eyes gaze at the muscles of his arms, at his Adam’s apple which is moving at the rhythm of his swallowing, at this tongue which is sliding across his lips.

“So, what were you reading?” he asks again.

She sighs and removes the covers from her body, sitting up in her bed. Adrien’s gaze is following her movements. 

“Stuff on _Twitter_.”

“And?”

“And they find my dress very _interesting_.”

A smile shapes on Adrien’s lips. He tears a piece of his croissant and puts it in his mouth. “Interesting, huh?”

“You know what?”

Adrien looks up from his pastry and gazes at Marinette.

“I think I’m gonna wear a _very_ short skirt today.”

His smile grows to his ears and Marinette feels a rush of determination inside her. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Marinette sits in one of the empty chairs and represses a yawn by taking out her things. Why do classes have to begin so early? 

Adrien arrives in the room a few seconds later, attracting the gazes of the students already settled, and naturally takes his place next to Marinette.

He had left earlier to come back to the mansion to grab his school stuff and reassure Nathalie. At no time has he talked about his father, though. 

“So?” Marinette discreetly asks him.

He shrugs, putting his pencil case on the table. “Nathalie was worried not to see me at breakfast, but my father didn’t notice anything.”

Marinette stops herself from staring at him too intensely. 

“Did your parents say anything?” he asks a few seconds later.

She snuck him out, taking advantage of the fact that her parents were at the bakery taken by storm by customers. But she’s almost certain she saw a gaze from her dad and a smirk on the face of her mom. 

“No, but I have to talk to them.”

Guilt begins to weigh heavily on her. They’re so understanding, so tolerant. Marinette has to at least be honest with them, even if two months late.

Adrien doesn’t answer anything and she knows it’s his way to tell her that it’s her choice and that he’s not going to interfere in her decision. She suspects him to be a tad jealous, too. He doesn’t have the luxury to have the choice of whether to confide to his father.

“They’ve done it, they have to have! I mean, _man_ , the way she’s looking at him!”

Marinette’s entire body tenses at hearing that sentence. The voice sounds right behind her and she doesn’t dare to turn around. She barely dares to _breathe_. 

“You think?”

“I’m _sure_.”

Marinette’s breath gets stuck in her throat. 

“I wish she would look at me like that.”

“I wish she would do more than just look.”

“Hey, who are you talking about?” Adrien suddenly asks. 

Her heart momentarily stops. 

“Ladybug.”

A sigh of relief escapes Marinette’s mouth and her shoulders release. ‘Phew, they’re not talking about me,’ she thinks.

Except that a thought enters her mind the second after: she’s Ladybug. 

Marinette turns around with a quick move and discovers Adam, right behind her and another boy she has already seen a few times.

Adam looks at her with interest and Marinette feels very uncomfortable right away.

“She has never done anything with Chat Noir,” Adrien sighs.

“You don’t know that,” responds the boy next to Adam—Marinette is pretty sure his name is Hugo. 

“They’re _professional_ ,” Adrien answers.

Adam doesn’t even try to hide his laugh. “Seriously, Agreste?”

Adrien shoots his gaze towards him. 

“See for yourself.”

And he raises his phone to show them. Marinette slightly bends towards Adrien to look at the screen and has to avoid opening her eyes wide in order to keep an impartial mask.

But the picture doesn’t really play in favour of Ladybug. It’s not the same one that Alya showed them yesterday, the angle isn’t the same. Ladybug and Chat Noir are still in the same position: perched on his baton. Sitting on his thigh, one arm around his neck, she’s looking at him with such a passion that Marinette has trouble to realize that it’s really her, that it’s really her gaze. 

Chat Noir has his eyes fixed on the streets, looking for the villain. Marinette remembers this moment perfectly. She remembers having turned her head, remembers finding him particularly attractive, she remembers asking herself how his lips would taste. 

And she remembers she felt bad the second after.

Adrien tightens his jaw and gives the phone back to Adam without saying anything. 

“See? Now dare say that she’s not craving it.”

Marinette bites her lips, doesn’t know what to say. If he had talked about any other girl, she would have thrown herself into a harsh answer to defend her honor, without any hesitation. But it’s about her, even if nobody knows it. 

She would have given everything for Alya to be here. 

“You’re the one who’s craving it,” Adrien answers back.

“ _All Paris_ is craving it.”

“Could you— Could you stop talking of her like she isn’t a person like the rest of us?” Marinette speaks, nervously wetting her lips. 

It’s at this moment that she realizes that standing for herself is way more complicated than doing it for others. 

“Technically, she’s a superhero,” Hugo says.

Adrien throws him a dark look and Hugo raises his hands. 

“And it’s not like she’s not begging for it,” Adam keeps going, his eyes on Marinette again. “Since the beginning, she just showing off in front of Chat Noir with her suit which brings out her—”

An anger fire lights in Marinette’s veins. “She’s looking for it, that’s what you say?”

“That’s what I say.”

Marinette nods and smiles bitterly at him. “Do you realize she could beat your ass in ten seconds?”

Adam raises an eyebrow. “Ten seconds?”

“No, no, not ten seconds, my bad,” Marinette corrects herself. “ _One_ second.”

A smirk draws on Adam’s lips and Marinette hears the muffled chuckle of Adrien.

“What about you? How long to beat my ass?”

Adrien’s laugh stops right away, the eyebrows of Hugo raise and Adam’s smile just got bigger. They’re all waiting for Marinette to answer.

But Marinette doesn’t give him the attention he’s waiting for and turns around, rolling her eyes. 

“She wants _me_ to beat her ass,” she hears Adam whisper to Hugo.

Adrien tenses in his chair. 

“Don’t say anything,” she says to him.

“One word and _I’ll_ beat his ass.”

Marinette smiles and shakes her head. “I got this.”

Adrien raises an eyebrow and Marinette focuses on the teacher who just entered the room. “You’ll see,” she says, grabbing a pen. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Marinette bounces up and down to put her sports leggings on. 

“I’m glad we’re start with running, I’m really very hardy,” Lila tells one of the girls. 

Marinette can’t help but roll her eyes, putting her tank top over her sports bra. 

“And you, Mari, are you _really very hardy_?”Chloé asks her, perfectly imitating Lila’s voice. 

Marinette frankly bursts out laughing and presses her hand against her mouth, realizing everybody has heard her. 

Chloé seems to have trouble restraining herself from snorting when Lila turns towards them. “Aren’t you supposed to hate each other?” she demands with a fake curiosity. 

“And aren’t you supposed to be on another continent?” Chloé retorts, putting her sport shoes on.

Marinette pinches her lips while she flattens her hair back to gather it in a ponytail. Lila doesn’t even take the trouble to answer to Chloé and look at Marinette instead. 

“Hey, Marinette,” she says with a fawning voice, “you seem to be pretty close to Adrien, aren’t you?”

A hairband between her teeth, Marinette notices that every discussion has stopped and that the attention of the fifteen or so girls in the locker room is focused on her. 

She grabs her hairband and shrugs. “He’s my best friend,” she answers.

Lila’s smile is way too bigger to be sincere. “But, between you and me,” she keeps going, lowering her voice to make her believe that there aren’t a ton of feminine ears listening to them, “you wish him to be more?”

Marinette swallows with difficulty, thinks about Adrien’s lips against her body and opens her mouth to answer back.

“Hurry up! I want everybody out in two minutes!” orders the teacher. 

A relieved sigh escapes her and she leaves the locker room without further ado. 

The high school has a race track of five hundred meters where they all meet for their gym class. It’s hot for September but a light breeze is fluttering in the air, making the temperature bearable. 

“Make two-person teams. You’ll run one at a time for five minutes. The goal is to do as many laps as you can. The winning team will have my respect.”

Marinette glances at Adrien and he answers her with a nod. “Can I start?” she demands when he meets her. She begins to bounce, as if her legs can’t stop moving. 

“Need to vent?” Adrien asks, smiling.

Marinette looks up at him, raising an eyebrow. “Sort of.”

Two minutes later and she throws herself onto the track. Marinette _loves_ running.

It’s pretty new, because before she became Ladybug, sport was never something really interesting to her. She had never really hated it and usually had good grades, but the idea of going running to clear her head had never crossed her mind.

And the fact to become a superhero has brought a lot of side effects. Her physical skills have become pretty impressive, for a start. Her endurance doesn’t falter anymore and the sprints she can do have a talent for surprising people. So, most of the time, she avoids showing this energy. Most of the time, she’s only at half of her capacity in sports classes. 

But today is a day where she _needs_ to let off steam. It’s pretty much supernatural, this need which seeps in her muscles. She had never felt something this intense before becoming Ladybug, anyway. 

And, up to now, she has only found two ways to calm this overflowing energy down. Either by running until her legs cannot carry her anymore. Either by having sex with Adrien until an orgasm lays her low. 

And the second possibility isn’t really doable right now.

So, Marinette runs without thinking, runs until she feels the light breeze turn into a powerful wind around her. 

“I’m sorry if I upset you earlier,” she hears.

She turns her head to her right and sees Adam, cheeks reddened and breathing already shortened by the effort. 

Marinette doesn’t even feel a little out of breath. But she uses this excuse to not answer him.

“You run pretty well,” he says.

“I know.”

She hears him chuckle next to her. “I think Adrien likes you.”

This sentence slightly throws her off balance, but she doesn’t let it show. “We’re friends,” she answers. “I’m glad to hear he likes me.”

“You know what I mean.”

Marinette speeds up her rhythm and notices with satisfaction that Adam is struggling to keep following her. 

“It shows. I've known him for a while now and he’s always super uptight—”

“He’s not _uptight_.”

“But not with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s what you’ll tell me.”

Her legs go faster and faster and her thoughts become woollier and woollier. 

“I saw how he looks at you.”

“How?”

“Like he saw what’s under your shirt.”

Marinette turns her head and discovers his smirk. The way his gaze slides along her breasts sends shivers down her spine. 

And just like that, she speeds up even more and this time, Adam can’t follow her. Her feet meet the ground always faster, her arms move always quicklier and her legs know exactly what they have to do. 

Marinette feels like she’s going to fly.

Time becomes as foggy as her thoughts, her breath as sporadic as her movements. How many turns did she do? She has no clue. 

But when the whistle of the teacher rings, Marinette can barely stand on her legs. 

“Dupain-Cheng!” she hears yelling. 

She meets the other students, her mouth dry and her skin on fire. 

“What was _that_?” the teacher asks her.

She painfully swallows, puts her hands on her knees, desperately trying to catch her breath.

“You’re officially on the track team.”

“Sorry?” she succeeds to articulate with a croaky voice. 

Adrien gives her a bottle of water and Marinette thanks him with her eyes. The second group of students is starting to warm up, the ones who just end their run are getting their breath back and Marinette throws herself on the bottle as if her life depends on it. 

The water abundantly runs along her throat and she closes her eyes.

“The track team,” the teacher repeats, losing his patience.

“I can’t,” she answers, wiping her chin. “I really don’t have the time to—” 

“Do it for the high school honor. For years, we’ve finished second at national championships. But with you, I’m _telling you_ , we’ll be first.”

Marinette wets her lips and opens her mouth. 

“Think about it,” he cuts her off, moving away. “Tell me your answer next week.”

Adrien gives her a thumbs up, smiling. “It’s great!’

“Great,” she repeats without real enthusiasm. 

“Just think about it, okay?” She nods and they walk to the track together. “What did Adam want?”

“He suspects something is going on between us,” Marinette answers, still breathless. “And he told me this by being...”

What word could she use? By being a _huge_ perv? It seems pretty appropriate.

“I see,” Adrien sighs. 

“Well, good luck,” she says to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

And she goes to sit on the stairs which are leading to the track. Marinette keeps her eyes on Adrien, on his speed, on his near effortlessness. 

They went running together a lot this summer. The several fitness rooms of the mansion had been nice, too. Sport isn’t only a loophole to Marinette, but a need, too. 

She _has_ _to_ stay in shape. Even if Ladybug’s suit brings her strength, speed and endurance completely surnatural, she has to, in her civilian self, maintain her physical skills if she wants to stay in the race against Hawk Moth. 

Working out and running are what she picks first but she has to stay deft under the water and in the ice, too, if akumas require it. In these cases, Adrien’s huge pool helped her a lot this summer—under the guise of afternoons with friends— and so did the skating rink near her house where she goes the most often she can.

Minutes pass unexpectedly fast. Marinette barely has the time to lose herself in her thoughts that Adrien is already coming back to her. His cheeks are red, his hair is falling over his eyes and his shirt is sticking to his sweaty skin. 

Marinette notices all the gazes staring at him and she can’t help but roll her eyes. She gives him the bottle of water and their teacher meets them again. 

“Agreste! You have to join the team, too.”

Marinette can only pay tribute to his investment with the track team. It’s pretty funny to see. 

“I can’t,” he answers after he has sprayed himself with water. “I’m already in the fencing team.” Water drops crash down along his neck and run away under his shirt.

“At least I tried. But, wait, both of you.” Marinette and Adrien look at each other for a second. “Just out of curiosity, could you do another lap? I want to see which one is faster.”

The curiosity glow in his eyes makes Marinette smile.

“I am,” Adrien says.

“You _wish_ ,” she responds. 

“Come on, on the track. The rest of you can go.”

Of course, nobody goes. Everybody settles on the stairs, their attention focused on Marinette and Adrien. A part is convinced that Adrien is going to win, the other one is sure about Marinette’s victory.

“Kick his ass!” she hears Chloé yell. 

Marinette smiles and shakes her head. 

“Ready?”

“Do you even know who you’re talking to?”

Adrien frowns for a second, but Marinette doesn’t have the time to ask him anything before a smirk straightens his lips up. 

“Pay attention! the teacher yells. “Three, two, one… let’s go!”

Marinette launches herself without thinking. One minute and they’re already at three quarters of the turn.

“Trouble following, Agreste?”

“You wish,” he responds, his body so close to hers she can feel his warmth. 

They’re only a few meters from arrival and cheering is welcoming them. A stride later and they’re on the other side.

“Well done, Dupain-Cheng,” the teacher congratulates her. “I’ll see you at training.”

“I won?” she asks, breathless.

“Looks like it,” Adrien answers, shrugging. 

The other students climb the stairs towards the locker rooms. Some looks linger on her, somes words are expressed to her and Marinette starts to smile. 

“So, Agreste, how does it feel to be a _loser_?” she says to him, bumping his shoulder with hers.

“Watch your pretty mouth,” he grumbles.

A chuckle goes up in her throat. Marinette loves to bring this competitive side of him out. “Or what?”

He turns his gaze towards her while they’re walking next to each other and raises an eyebrow. 

“C’mon, we both know that I’m faster, but you have more endurance.”

A smirk draws on Adrien’s face. “To run or…?”

Marinette feels her lips straighten even more and she innocently shrugs her shoulders. Adrien opens his mouth, his eyes sparkling, but doesn’t have the time to share his thoughts.

“Did you hear?” Chloé suddenly asks, fighting her way between them. 

“What are you talking about?” Adrien inquires. 

“The show they’re preparing for Christmas,” he answers, raising her eyebrows. “That’s all everybody talks about!”

Marinette watches Adrien frown and feels the same expression draws on her face.

“There will be an official announcement and everything, but people are gossiping. Apparently, there will be auditions for singing, dancing or whatever other talent.”

“Are you going to audition?” Adrien asks her.

“Are you kidding me? A shitty highschool show, me? Come on!”

Adrien begins to laugh and Marinette doesn’t know how to smile anymore.

“What about you? You could play piano— Are you okay, Mari?”

She looks up at them right away and nods, doing her best to straighten her lips up in a reassuring expression. She can feel at the clenching of her face that it’s a total failure.

“Yeah, everything all right. It’s just the run, I’m a bit tired.”

And in the way Adrien is looking at her, he perfectly knows that she’s lying. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

“So, how were your morning classes?” Alya asks them.

Marinette shrugs, jabbing her fork in her pasta. She can feel looks on her when hers is fixed on her food.

Her thoughts play on a loop in her head, her questions repeat continuously, her doubts push what she taught be certainties.

“We have sport class and the teacher asked us to be on the track team,” Adrien explains.

“That’s great!” Nino cries out.

Marinette doesn’t answer.

“Or it’s not,” he says.

“What’s going on, Mari?” Alya asks with a soft voice.

She sighs a great blow and finally looks up. “It’s just that I have so many things to do. But I don’t want to disappoint everyone by saying no and it could help me for my file for next year or to have a scholarship. But I don’t want to end up rushing everything. Half is worse that none at all.”

“How can you have so many things to do to not have the time to be on the team?” Nino asks.

Marinette feels her throat tightens. She hates when someone asks her that, she hates _lying_.

“She has to help her parents in the bakery, keep drawing and creating clothings if she wants to be ready for next year, and keep her grades high. Plus, she has to handle all her personal issues and everything that’s going on in her head—and believe me, there’s _a lot_ going on up there.”

A puff of gratitude spreads inside her heart and Marinette lays her eyes on Alya’s. “ _Thanks_ ”, she says to her.

Alya smiles at her back.

“You know,” Nino tells after a few seconds, “even if it seems impossible, I think you should take the time to do it. Because besides helping you for next year, it would help yourself to unwind and you’d feel better after.”

Marinette nods and takes a new mouthful of pasta. She turns her head and notices that Adrien is staring at her. How long has his gaze been on her?

“Nino’s right,” he says, looking away.

His jaw contracts and something happens in his mind. She’s sure of it, but she has no clue what it is about.

“What about you?” Alya asks Adrien. “Can’t you be on the team?”

“No, I’m already on the fencing one and training is at the same time. Plus, my father would never let me, anyways.”

Adrien is staring at his pasta without ever eating them and Marinette feels her heart speed up. She hates to see him like that. Something is bothering him, and she needs to know what.

“And you two?” Marinette says to change the subject. “How did it go?”

“Pretty well,” Nino answers. “We have Alix, Rose, Juleka, Mylène and Ivan with us so it’s nice to all know each other. The vibe is cool, it’s really a shame that you two aren’t with us.”

Marinette thinks back about what Adam told her this morning and immediately nods. 

“But we heard about the show they want to throw for Christmas!” Alya says happily. “It looks really great, Nino want to audition as a DJ and I told myself, Mari, that you could sing—”

She cuts her sentence with a look and Alya furrows her eyebrows.

“Sing?” Adrien and Nino ask at the same time.

Marinette closes her eyes. The discussion she _especially_ doesn’t want to have.

“I’m sorry, Mari, I thought they knew—”

“Knew what?” Nino asks.

Adrien’s hand settles on her thigh and Marinette instantly relaxes. She opens her eyes and realizes she the people listening are the most supportive she knows. 

They’re not going to judge her and aren’t going to make her do anything she doesn’t want to.

So, the anxiety turns into confidence and stress changes into pride. “I can—more or less—sing,” she confesses, shrugging. 

Nino raises his eyebrows, Adrien squeezes his hand around her thigh and Alya shakes her head, laughing.

“ _But_ we don’t have to make it a big deal, really—”

“ _More or less_? Mari, come on!”

“Er, I can manage, okay.”

Alya rolls her eyes. “She sings _really_ well. You know when you listen to a song and you get chills?”

The boys nod and Marinette feels herself blush.

“Well, everytime I listen to Marinette, I get chills. Really, guys, her voice is… it’s _incredible_.”

“Can you stop talking about me like I’m not right here?”

“Someone has to do it, Mari! You’re really talented, and it’s about time you realized it.”

Marinette sighs, her heart beating, but can’t help herself from smiling right after.

She feels lightened, as if a weight has removed from her shoulders.

Singing is her inner sanctum, what she doesn’t share with anyone. Alya has known about it for a few years, but she hardly ever sings in front of her.

“We want a demonstration!” Nino says. “We _need_ one!”

Marinette shakes her head, laughing. “I can’t believe you know about it. But if you tell someone…” she threatens them, pointing them in turn with her fork.

“You’ll have to tell someone, since you’re gonna sing at the show.”

“Yeah, _right_ ,” Marinette says with irony.

“We’ll see.”

Marinette can hardly picture herself singing in front of her friends, so singing before hundreds of people is totally out of the question. 

“I would really love to hear you singing,” Adrien whispers to her while Alya and Nino are chatting.

His eyes are twinkling, but he still seems worried. His expression is more mysterious than usual and Marinette is asking herself about his thoughts. Is he thinking about his father? About them both? About Adam? About what he just learned? About everything, in all likelihood. 

His hand tightens on her thigh again and Marinette feels the skin of her cheeks become warmer. The idea of singing before the entire world is stressful and intrusive, but the idea of singing before Adrien is weirdly exciting. 

“Tonight,” she says to him, smiling.

He nods, smirking, and Marinette feels a very familiar fire spreads inside her veins. 

What she doesn’t know is that tonight is going to be _way_ different than what she’s imagining right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand voilà! I really hope you liked this chapter!
> 
> Tell me everything, your thoughts about Adrien's feelings, about his vulnerability towards Marinette, about Adam (a big big big jerk, I'll give you that), about the gym class (I had this scene in my mind for months, really) and all the plot about our singing Marinette! It's totally made up, but I have a lot of ideas about this!
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like this!
> 
> And, something important: I'm really really thinking about writing a prequel and a sequel about this story! The prequel would be about the evolution of Mari and Adrien's relationship, their first kiss, first time, first everything, with a lot of tension and teasing :p
> 
> The prequel would be fun and light, you know? But the sequel... well, I can't tell you about it because I would literally have to spoil you the end of this story (plus, I'm not really sure about how it will end yet) but I'm really really excited about this!
> 
> So, yeah, I think this story will contain about 10-15 chapters!
> 
> Anyways, don't forget to tell me what you think about all of this! I'm gonna translate the fifth chapter this week-end so it will be online in ten days, maximum!
> 
> (A few words to make your mouth water about the next chapter: Gabriel, Ladybug, revelations, frustration, and... shower :p)
> 
> Have a good day!


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